Parental Knowledge and Attitude Towards Antibiotic Usage and Resistance Among Children in Tetovo, Republic of Macedonia

Scientists have proved a direct relationship between antibiotic dosage and the emergence and spread of drug-resistant bacteria. Firstly, the overuse of antibiotics clearly drives the evolution of resistance. In many countries where antibiotics are unregulated and can be bought without a prescription. The lack of regulation leads to antibiotics being easily available, plentiful and cheap, which results in overuse. With the emergence of online shopping, people in countries where antibiotics are regulated also can get antibiotics from foreign countries. Secondly, incorrectly prescribed antibiotics also contribute to the promotion of resistant bacteria. Up to half of antibiotics used in humans are unnecessary and inappropriate. For example, a third of people believe that antibiotics are effective for the common cold, and the common cold is the most common reason

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.

A couple times a year local and national mass media put the spotlight on problems connected to antibiotic overuse. Some people consider those problems to be real and serious, and others think that the discussed topics are nothing more than new “fashionable” subjects to talk about, distracting people from “real” problems, such as climbing gas prices or war expenses. Meanwhile, antibiotic overuse continues as a common practice among US doctors and agribusinesses for the last 20 years. The practice of antibiotic overuse has put patient’s health at risk, contributed to antibiotic resistance and increased bacterial mutation to a new, stronger level; as well as it hitting the economy with new costly expenses in health care. It is time to stop

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

Antimicrobial stewardship (AS) can be attained while fostering quality patient satisfaction. Interdisciplinary standards of practice exist to ensure evidence-based prescribing practices yet the pervasive use of antibiotics remains rampant globally. This is a multifaceted topic that impacts primary care prescribers, pharmacists, nurses, pharmaceutical companies, governing bodies, educational institutions, research teams, and the general population. This article will investigate how Canadian nurse practitioners (NPs) are in a prime position to influence an overdue revolution in AS, specifically for uncomplicated viral upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) of children ages two to ten in primary care.

Upper respiratory tract infections (URTI), including acute otitis media (AOM) are the most common cause of ambulatory physician visits and antimicrobial prescriptions in children1,2. The most common bacterial causes of URTI are Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae, though the majority of cases are caused by viral pathogens 3–10. Distinguishing between viral and bacterial URTI can be difficult. Reports on quality of antimicrobial prescriptions have shown a 30-50% of all out-patient prescriptions due to (upper) respiratory tract infections to be inappropriate2,10,11. In Europe the quality of prescription is higher in the north of the continent, including Iceland compared to in the south12. Conversely, many factors contribute to the overuse of antimicrobials2,13–15, which in turn results to increase in antimicrobial resistance16,17. Contributing factors cited by by physicians to cause over-prescription include uncertainty of diagnosis, fear of disease complications, lack of perception of harmful effects of antimicrobials, not perceiving their own prescription practices to be a problem, pressure by patients, limited time, fear of damaging doctor-patient relationship in addition to language, cultural and educational barriers2,13–15. Antimicrobials were long a mainstay treatment against AOM in fear of rare, but dangerous complications, which have later been found to be unfounded, asnd

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

Adherence to antibiotic prophylaxis guidelines at University Medical Center is poor within the study period. Supporting implementation of antibiotic stewardship program and making sure that all of prophylactic antibiotics are covered by Health Insurance are importance and necessary in order to improve effectiveness and appropriateness of antibiotic prophylaxis usage

Frequent use of broad-spectrum antibiotics is the most widely recognized modifiable risk factor. (p. 26)

How would you encourage parents with children to approach a health professional about over prescribing antibiotics that could potential lead to resistance? How would you educate parents to recognize warning flags with over prescribing habits? You state that health education programs need to have the ability to enable and empower parents, how could empower lead to further complications associated with antibiotics? In your opinion what is a approach that could be taken to encourage health professional to reduce prescribing habits while still empowering parents to have guidance and ownership over their families health status?

Summary: The article “Kids’ Drug- Resistant Bacteria Blamed on Farm Antibiotic Use” states that kid’s health is suffering from an antibiotic that is use in farm animals. Kids are infected by bacteria and treatment is difficult with the antibiotics that used in farm animals. If human get infected by this bacteria, antibiotics is not going to work while treatment because bacteria became more advance and that antibiotic is not going to work. Kids can expose to drug resistant bacteria in different way. Children can get infected by these bacteria by contact with animals which is infected by these bacteria and by eating food that is contaminated by bacteria. Most of the time people who get infected by these bacteria don’t get ill if they get ill

In the U.S. alone, the amount of prescribed courses of antibiotics per year far exceeds the the population, indicating that some people are getting more than one course of antibiotic treatment per year. In relation to that, the treatment indication and duration of antibiotic therapy has been found to be incorrect in 30% to 50% of cases studied and 30% to 60% of patients in intensive care units were found to be given unnecessary or inappropriate antibiotic treatment (Ventola, 2015). Another subject of concern is the lack of regulation in other countries. Many are able to purchase antibiotics without a prescription which leads to cheap and easy access, eventually encouraging misuse of the drug. Also, these same countries are able to sell antibiotics online where people residing in regulated countries are able to purchase them, contributing to the problem even further (Ventola, 2015). The lack of education and concern for the regulation of antibiotics can have dire consequences not only for patients but for the rest of the population, as

Since their introduction, antibiotics have been a major component in the medical field. Scientists are continuing to make advancements in the industry and import the drugs. As the drugs improve, so does the want and need to have them. The advancements have made amazing headway in the fight against different illnesses and have become very important to medicine. Because the positive response of antibiotics and continued growth, people all over the world are searching for this “miracle drug” to treat their illnesses as soon as they come about. In many cases the antibiotics are a great route in the treatment of the illness, but in many other cases the antibiotics are unneeded and causing more harm than good. The poses the question, “Should antibiotic

It has been a widely held belief for many years that antibiotics are a type of “cure all” used by doctors. However, due to some disturbing medical cases, doctors are becoming increasingly concerned that the same antibiotics they have been using for a number of years may start causing more medical issues than they are helping. In this article there are two real life examples of families who have experienced devastating consequences antibiotics not working as they should.

Eighty percent of antibiotic prescribing takes place in general practice (Haddox, 2013). Therefore, focus of limiting antibiotic