A questionnaire-based survey to ascertain the views of clinicians regarding rational use of antibiotics in teaching hospitals of Kolkata

OBJECTIVES: The objective was to assess the views of clinicians in teaching hospitals of Kolkata regarding the use of antibiotics in their own hospitals, focusing on perceived misuse, reasons behind such misuse and feasible remedial measures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 200 clinicians from core clinical disciplines was approached in six teaching hospitals of Kolkata through purposive sampling. A structured, validated questionnaire adopted from published studies and modified to suit the responding population was completed by consenting respondents through face-to-face interaction with a single interviewer. Respondents were free to leave out questions they did not wish to answer. RESULTS: Among 130 participating clinicians (65% of approached), all felt that antibiotic misuse occurs in various hospital settings; 72 (55.4% of the respondents) felt it was a frequent occurrence and needed major rectification. Cough and cold (78.5%), fever (65.4%), and diarrhea (62.3%) were perceived to be the commonest conditions of antibiotic misuse. About half (50.76%) felt that oral preparations were more misused compared to injectable or topical ones. Among oral antibiotics, co-amoxiclav (66.9%) and cefpodoxime (63.07%) whereas among parenteral ones, ceftriaxone and other third generation cephalosporins (74.6%) followed by piperacillin-tazobactam (61.5%) were selected as the most misused ones. Deficient training in rational use of medicines (70.7%) and absence of institutional antibiotic policy (67.7%) were listed as the two most important predisposing factors. Training of medical students and interns in rational antibiotic use (78.5%), implementation of antibiotic policy (76.9%), improvement in microbiology support (70.7%), and regular surveillance on this issue (64.6%) were cited as the principal remedial measures. CONCLUSIONS: Clinicians acknowledge that the misuse of antibiotics is an important problem in their hospitals. A system of clinical audit of antibiotic usage, improved microbiology support and implementation of antibiotic policy can help to promote rational use of antimicrobial agents.