Journal of Harmonized Research in Pharmacy

KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE, AND PRACTICES ON ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE AMONG PHARMACISTS AT THE UNIVERSITY TEACHING HOSPITALS IN LUSAKA, ZAMBIA

Abstract

Author(s): Steward Mudenda, Fred Fredrick Bangara, Jonathan Sitali, Michelo Banda

Antibiotic resistance is a global public health problem that affects everyone. This study aimed to explore the knowledge, attitude, and practices on antibiotic resistance among pharmacists at the Univ ersity Teaching Hospitals in Lusaka, Zambia. This descriptive cross-sectional study was done among 46 randomly selected hospital pharmacists from November 2018 to February 2019. Data was analysed using Statistical Packaging for Social Sciences version 20. Statistical associations were done using Chi-square, Wilcoxon-Mann Whitney and McNemar-Bowker test. Statistical significance was conducted at 95% confidence level with a p<0.05 to indicate statistical significance. The majority of participants 24/46 (52%) were males while 22/46 (48%) were females (p=0.883). Majority of the participants were in the age group of 26-30 years old (p=0.010), the minimum age was 23 and maximum age was 47 years, mean age was 32.11 years, a standard deviation of 6.533, p=0.263. The majority of participants 28/46 (61%) were married (p=0.185), the majority of participants 24/46 (52%) had worked for a period of 1-5 years (p<0.001). All participants 46/46 (100%) were pharmacists (p<0.001) and were all Christians (p<0.001). Majority of the participants had adequate knowledge, positive attitude and good practices towards antibiotic resistance based on their responses to the questionnaire. Statistical tests showed no association between knowledge and attitude (p=0.693), knowledge and practices (p=0.409), and between attitude and practices (p=0.226). The majority of pharmacists at the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka have good knowledge, positive attitude and good practices towards antibiotic resistance. Additionally, there was no association between knowledge and attitude (p=0.693), knowledge and practices (p=0.409), and attitude and practices (p=0.226). Keywords: Antibiotic resistance; Knowledge; Attitude; Practices; Pharmacists