In surveys carried out by the Department of Health found out 32% percent of respondents incorrectly agreed that ‘Antibiotics work on most coughs and colds’ and 43% incorrectly agreed that ‘Antibiotics can kill viruses’. These statistics show that just under half of the public do not understand the mechanism of antibiotics and what they can and cannot kill. This means that just under half of the population are likely to go to the doctor with a common cold or sore throat expecting an antibiotic prescription from their doctor. This is where the role of patients and doctors can be linked. It is up to the medical professionals to help educate the public on the mechanism of antibiotics.
Education on general hygiene:
A simple way to prevent the
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The role of patients:
As discussed earlier patients can also cancel out their actions that are contributing to antibiotic resistance. This can be done by: making sure the patient takes the full course of antibiotics – as mentioned before if treatment stops too soon, the drug may not kill all the bacteria and the remaining bacteria may become resistant to the antibiotic that you 've taken. Take the antibiotics as they are prescribed i.e. taking at regular intervals throughout the day as antibiotics work better this way. Don’t save antibiotics and take them later if you become sick again as an antibiotic is meant for a specific infection, taking the wrong antibiotic can delay getting the appropriate treatment and may allow your condition to worsen. Don’t share antibiotics as the they may not be appropriate for your illness, may delay correct treatment, and may allow your condition to worsen. Another important time to wash or sanitise our hands is when entering and leaving doctors surgeries and hospital wards. Most people are aware of the disinfectant pumps within medical buildings but don’t always use them. It is important to sanitise as if not, you are carrying infections in and out of the wards that would not usually be there. This means that people could then acquire infections they wouldn’t usually have picked up.
The role of health professionals:
Health care professionals, such
In the last decade, the number of prescriptions for antibiotics has increases. Even though, antibiotics are helpful, an excess amount of antibiotics can be dangerous. Quite often antibiotics are wrongly prescribed to cure viruses when they are meant to target bacteria. Antibiotics are a type of medicine that is prone to kill microorganisms, or bacteria. By examining the PBS documentary Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria and the article “U.S. government taps GlaxoSmithKline for New Antibiotics” by Ben Hirschler as well as a few other articles can help depict the problem that is of doctors prescribing antibiotics wrongly or excessively, which can led to becoming harmful to the body.
It is thought that overuse of antibiotics is related to the development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) (Austin). As a consequence, there has been an increasing trend to promote appropriate prescribing of antibiotics so as to maximise their therapeutic efficacy and minimise the outbreak of resistance. Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) programs in hospitals are exemplary of a method used to promote rational prescription of antibiotics. In this review, we will briefly introduce some examples of AMR to illustrate the extent of this issue. We will then move on to describe AMS programs and the strategies required to
The confusion begins with the public, and their views on the topic. The research into public perception of antibiotics has occurred multiple times, each leading to a similar conclusion: the lack of awareness leads to false perceptions about the effects of antibiotics. Per the World Health Organization (WHO), surveying 10,000 people, 64% of individuals who responded believed that antibiotics could treat the flu and the cold. This is especially odd since the same percentage of people believed that AMR “is an issue that could affect them and their families” (World Health Organization). Due to the constant confusion, about if
Every year a familiar scene plays out in clinic waiting rooms, chairs filled with miserable patients waiting to see their physician with complaints of a never ending cough and a constant nasal drip. More than likely, these patients will receive a prescription for antibiotics, but should they? Most acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs), do not require an antibiotic, the symptoms will resolve themselves over time without antibiotic treatment. Healthcare experts and scientists have warned the public about the dangers of overusing antibiotics, and there are thousands of studies to support that fact, but no one is listening. Patients are convinced they need to have antibiotic treatment, and somehow their time is wasted if they leave empty
I selected Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and the purpose to talk about ADHD is to help parents to identify and help them if they have a child who is probably affected for this condition. For me is very important as a parent to identify the deficit as early as possible to start helping the child who is diagnosed with this condition. According to The National Resource Center on ADHD “Individuals with ADHD can be very successful in life. However without identification and proper treatment, ADHD may have serious consequences, including school failure, family stress and disruption depression, problems with relationships, substance abuse, delinquency, accidental injuries and job failure.”
Explain three reasons why it may be necessary to adjust your message depending upon age, community, and potential literacy levels of your target audience
The class about health boards was very good topic to know and essential for public health. The boards are dominant model for federal grant funding for primary care in the country for public safety. They have health care professionals willing to provide services to nations uninsured and underserved population.
Most people naturally carry the bacteria in their intestines, away from the oxygen that would kill them. Given that our intestines produce different types of bacteria, so if we take antibiotic
People often expect a rigorous antibiotic treatment with some of the smallest ailments that will often pass through with the help of the human body’s immune system. However, a study conducted in Sweden was able to investigate the public’s willingness to work with doctors to mitigate antibiotic resistance. The results from the study have proved to be quite optimistic in a population size of 1,025 participants. Numerous of these people who trusted their doctor and were adequately educated on antibiotic resistance had been willing to put off a prescription of antibiotics in a range of 1-5 days in order to create less of a need for them. When the public understands what weight antibiotics carry when they are used and when their is an established trust between them and medical professionals, less antibiotics will be consumed as demonstrated by this study (Björn 249-255). If these circumstances can be repeated in a global manner, immense strides in preventing impotence of antibiotics will be made. When people are actually prescribed antibiotics, they must follow every instruction given to them by their physician. This includes completing the entire course of the drug they are administered, taking the drug at punctual intervals daily, and not sharing or saving any leftover
The misuse and overdose of the antibiotics increase the resistance problem. It can cause these bacteria to
Antibiotic resistance is becoming a more prevalent issue. This is a growing dilemma because, not only do patients have the potential to develop resistance, but they also can transmit the resistant bacteria to others (McKellar, 2014). Additionally, it is estimated that over one-third of all antibiotics prescribed to patients are unnecessary (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016). Overutilization of antibiotics is a growing problem due to some patients’ inappropriate demands for antibiotics or misdiagnoses by prescribers, however, underutilization of antibiotics can be just as problematic. Physicians are trained to use good antimicrobial stewardship when prescribing antibiotics; only giving them to patients who truly do have a bacterial infection. This becomes an issue when providers are too cautious and do not prescribe antibiotics in an attempt not to contribute to antibiotic resistance. Unfortunately, this caution could have a detrimental effect on the health of patients who actually need the antibiotics. To combat this issue, we must find a balance between good antimicrobial stewardship to minimize resistance while also taking underutilization into consideration. We, as pharmacists, are at a unique position between the physician and
People living in rural areas generally suffer greater morbidity than their counterparts living in suburban and urban regions (Shi & Singh, 2015). These facts are generally consistent across age groups and do not appear to change, regardless of average rural community wealth (Cohen, Cook, Kelley, Foutz, & Sando, 2016). Rural residents tend to experience greater social and physical isolation, lack local secondary level providers and primary care services in sufficient quantities or within manageable travel distances (Cohen et al., 2016). According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, rural Americans: 1) Are older, poorer, and less healthy than non-rural residents; 2) Have a life expectancy 6 months shorter than non-rural counterparts with a widening disparity trend over time; 3) Experience more activity limitations from chronic conditions than people living in urban or suburban communities (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2014).
Antibiotics have always been one of the most reliable drugs in medical history, making them a saving grace for those who suffer from bacterial caused illnesses. Although many types of drugs are used to cure diseases, are antibiotics actually capable of completely “curing” a patient? Many people find antibiotics to be a reliable source when it comes to fighting of an infection, however, when someone either overuses or misuses the prescription of antibiotics, harsh side effects may occur. One of the main problems that comes with the abuse of antibiotics being the resistance of them for future use. This becomes a major problem when further down the road a severe illness is accumulated by someone, but cannot be treated due to the resistance.
As many people may know, bacteria can be either harmful or helpful. The damage on your body can vary by the harmful bacteria. The damage can be as little as a cough all the way to death depending on the bacteria and amount of it. That is why it is really important to for your doctor to prescribe you medicine when you are sick or coming up with something. The reason any doctor emphasizes the importance of finishing the prescribed bottle of antibiotics relates to all 5 steps for evolution by natural selection. The first step one is over reproduction. All animals have the ability to produce more offspring than can possibly survive. This could be critically dangerous for humans because if the bacteria duplicate numerously then the antibiotics might not even be able to kill all bacteria. Another step
Another crucial element to consider is the emergence of bacterial strains resistant to antibiotics,given the widespread use of these drugs as a prophylactic or a therapeutic regimen.