Assessment of knowledge and attitude trends towards antimicrobial resistance (AMR) among the community members, pharmacists/pharmacy owners and physicians in district Sialkot, Pakistan.

BACKGROUND

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an emerging threat to public health worldwide. A significant evidence has suggested that the knowledge and attitude trends among the community, pharmacists and physicians can play a critical role in managing the ever increasing threat of AMR.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey was performed using three specific self-administered questionnaires for community members, pharmacists/pharmacy owners and physicians on a randomly selected sample population of 473, 424 and 308 respectively. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression and Pearson chi-square tests were performed during data analysis.

RESULT

A response rate of 81.2% ( = 385), 37.7% ( = 160) and 53.9% ( = 166) was achieved for general community, pharmacists/pharmacy owners and physicians respectively. More than half of the community participants (55.6%;  = 214) possess poor knowledge of AMR. Furthermore, knowledge and attitude of the community participants were also found to be significantly correlated (r = 0.02) with each other. In 90.6% ( = 145) of the pharmacies included in the survey, a qualified pharmacist was not present at the time of the operations. Only 36.9% physicians ( = 60) knew about the environmental route of dissemination of AMR. Majority of the physicians agreed that AMR is a global problem and also recognize the need for initiating AMR stewardship programs.

CONCLUSION

Our study will provide effective assessment and potential insights in designing tri-faceted interventions for rationalizing antibiotics consumption thus controlling the development and dissemination of AMR.