Knowledge, attitude and practice of prescribing antibiotics among dental practitioners in Chitwan
Abstract
Background: Antibiotic resistance in recent years has become a major
threat to public health globally. In dental practice, antibiotics and analgesics
are commonly used for infection control and management of pain. The
knowledge, attitude and practice skills of antibiotic prescription by dental
practitioners should be continuously evaluated. The aim of this study was to
assess the knowledge, attitude and practice regarding antibiotic prescription
among dental practitioners.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out to determine
the knowledge, attitude and practice regarding antibiotic prescription
among dental practitioners. A self-administered questionnaire was used to
collect information which was adopted from previous studies. A briefing was
given to the participants about the nature of the study and the procedure
of completing the questionnaire was explained. After completion of the
questionnaire, data was collected, reviewed, organized and expressed as
counts/percentages and statically analyzed using SPSS version 16.
Result: The current study showed that majority of the participants had
average knowledge (52.7%) regarding antibiotic resistance but despite
of that they have been prescribing antibiotic without proper guidelines.
In this study, Amoxicillin (69.1%) followed by amoxicillin-clavulanic acid
(25.5%) combination were the most commonly prescribed drugs used for
the management of oral infections, but were prescribed based on symptoms
without taking care of guidelines.
Conclusion: Dental practitioners had knowledge of antibiotic prescription
and its resistance however they have been prescribing antibiotic without
proper guidelines. It is deemed necessary to update the knowledge and
enhance the careful use of antibiotics.
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