STUDY OF AWARENESS OF PHARMACY EMPLOYEES IN UKRAINE WITH THE PROBLEM OF ANTIBIOTICS RESISTANCE

Larysa Iakovlieva, Tetiana Bahlai

Antibiotic resistance (ABR) is one of today’s pressing challenges for scientists, healthcare, and pharmaceutical professionals. Pharmacies are often the first point of patient’s contact with the healthcare system, so the pharmacist must be a source of objective information about ABR and provide qualified advice on prescription and over-the-counter medications.

The aim: through questionnaires to identify the level of knowledge about antimicrobial drugs of systemic action in pharmacists and pharmacists in Ukraine, as well as to monitor their behavior on the recommendations and release of antimicrobials without a prescription.

Materials and methods. The survey was conducted among pharmacy employees from May 1, 2019, to February 11, 2020. The questionnaire consisted of closed and open questions, multiple-choice, and comparison questions.

Results showed high self-esteem of knowledge about antibiotics among respondents, but their answers to open questions indicate a lack of knowledge. Most pharmacists are ready to recommend antibacterial drugs for colds and SARS, whooping cough, sore throat with fever, diarrhea. 69 % of respondents believe that a doctor should prescribe antibacterial drugs, but at the same time, 74 % of respondents do not always or never ask for doctor’s prescription for antibiotics.

Conclusions. We believe that more articles on antibiotic resistance should be published for pharmacists in order to improve their skills. Issues on this issue should be more actively covered in the curriculum and the process of postgraduate education (training). Pharmacists should also be reminded of the possibility of prescribing over-the-counter medicines to help patients with SARS.