| Abstract |
Antibiotics are medicines that may kill bacteria or inhibit their growth. The misuse of antibiotics drugs is a phenomenon which has been observed within the systems of healthcare and all groups of patients globally. The health care professionals along with their patients are both equally responsible for the major issue of the antibacterial resistance of the antibiotics. There is a direct correlation between the misuse and use of antibiotics and the appearance of antibiotic resistance.
As per general practitioners and physician specialists case it is likely that the issue of the antimicrobial resistance occurs due to the misuse of the prescriptions (to their patients), Whereas the problem of antibiotic misuse it's down to the reckless use of the drugs, to stopping the antibiotic treatment, to the auto treatment phenomenon and obtaining the antibiotic drugs without doctor's prescription.
Ensuring the proper use of the drugs is a matter of great importance in order to fight antimicrobial resistance of the antibiotic.
Antibiotic resistance is one of the highest timeless threats to public health. Particularly nowadays, we are going through the great resistance Era and the world is under the threat of not being able to treat common infections which are caused by common bacteria. Within the European Union are estimated 33,0000 deaths per year which have been caused by infection due to antimicrobial bacteria resistance and 1.5 billion euro the estimated expense to the healthcare system.
The main goal of this current study is to record medical doctors' beliefs, knowledge, and their attitude across the primary healthcare system in Crete regarding the prescription of the antibiotic, the antimicrobial resistance, knowledge, and opinions of their patients.
A cross-sectional study was conducted among doctors from primary care in Crete and their patients. The survey took place from December 2020 till April 2021.
The Doctor's survey consists of three questions concerning the process of the decision making to prescribe antibiotics, the self-evaluation of their knowledge, their attitude on the issue of the resistance of the antibiotic, and the awareness of the prescription of antibiotics as a contributing factor to antimicrobial resistance, the ability to understand the prescription's standards and the social-demographic information of the participants. Patients' survey included social-demographic features along with open and close type questions about their knowledge, their opinions, and their cognizance (awareness) regarding the use of the antibiotics.
Every statistical control was performed with a 5% level of significance. IBM SPSS statistics version 25 was used for statistical analysis.
The 85,6% of the medical doctors said that antimicrobial resistance is considered a major issue in our country and 65,6% of them said that it is a major problem globally.
Most of the doctors 64,5% agree that their decision making regarding the antibiotic treatment which may recommend (for their patient) is based on the following factors: their concerns about their patient care treatment, their worry that they might skip something or disregard (ignore) something or how ill is their patient and whether their patient has obtained antimicrobial resistance so far. The biggest percentage of the participants said that the knowledge of the general rules (would contribute) to reduce the misuse of the prescription of antibiotics. The majority of the physician specialists said that they do have a great knowledge which will help to make the decision to whether or not to recommend an antibiotic treatment, the proper duration of the antibiotic treatment and the appropriate dose of these antibiotics whereas the trainee general practitioners are reluctant and lack of self-knowledge regarding the right choice of the antibiotic, the duration of the antibiotic treatment to be given and the appropriate dose of these antibiotics. The biggest percentage of the participants 82.4% mentioned that their decision in regard to antibiotics is not based on their patients’ expectations.
The biggest percentage of the participants 83,4% said that the knowledge of the general rules (would contribute) to reduce the misuse of the prescription of antibiotics and 57,8% of the participants said that they would want to have better training and knowledge of the use of antibiotics. It is worth mentioning that there is a strong position (p=0,001) between the country of graduation and the medical school of graduation as both have a strong relation with the need for further training and education.
94,4% of the participants said that the specialist and general practitioners do prescribe antibiotic treatments quite often when it is not essential to do so.
The results of the surveys show that there is a strong position among the country of graduating, medical schools with doctor's attitude and beliefs regarding the prescription of antibiotics. Among the patients 58,3% said that they have been taking antibiotics to treat the common flu (runny nose, coughing, sore throat) and 43,8% said that the antibiotics do work effectively against the common flu.
Most of the patient participants said that they would not stop taking antibiotic treatment earlier than their doctor has been prescribed even if they would feel well.
In addition, 67,7% of the participants said that any leftover antibiotic pill may save them at home for future use.
Particularly for our country the battle against the antimicrobial resistance has been an utmost priority for our public healthcare and one of the greatest challenges that our national healthcare system is facing. The government administrator and politician should take into consideration the findings of this survey(study) in order to organize workshops and educate citizens regarding the antimicrobial resistance and the correct use of antibiotics.
Moreover, the responsible politicians’ administrators should organize ongoing trainings for the medical personnel regarding the proper use of the antibiotics and the reduction of the misuse of the antibiotic prescription (by the doctors).
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