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Knowledge and perceptions of antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial stewardship among staff at a national cancer referral center in Uganda

OBJECTIVES: As access to cancer care has improved throughout sub-Saharan Africa, treatment-associated infections have increased. Assessing healthcare worker knowledge of antimicrobial stewardship and identifying the barriers to infection management will inform the development of contextually appropr...

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Autores principales: Gulleen, Elizabeth A., Lubwama, Margaret, Komakech, Alfred, Krantz, Elizabeth M., Liu, Catherine, Phipps, Warren
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Cambridge University Press 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9726558/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36483337
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/ash.2022.28
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author Gulleen, Elizabeth A.
Lubwama, Margaret
Komakech, Alfred
Krantz, Elizabeth M.
Liu, Catherine
Phipps, Warren
author_facet Gulleen, Elizabeth A.
Lubwama, Margaret
Komakech, Alfred
Krantz, Elizabeth M.
Liu, Catherine
Phipps, Warren
author_sort Gulleen, Elizabeth A.
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVES: As access to cancer care has improved throughout sub-Saharan Africa, treatment-associated infections have increased. Assessing healthcare worker knowledge of antimicrobial stewardship and identifying the barriers to infection management will inform the development of contextually appropriate antimicrobial stewardship programs, improving cancer outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. SETTING: The Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI), a national cancer referral center in Kampala, Uganda. PARTICIPANTS: We surveyed 61 UCI staff: 29 nurses, 7 pharmacists, and 25 physicians. METHODS: The survey contained 25 questions and 1 ranking exercise. We examined differences in responses by staff role. RESULTS: All 60 respondents who answered the question had heard the term “antimicrobial resistance.” Only 44 (73%) had heard the term “antimicrobial stewardship.” Nurses were less likely than pharmacists or physicians to be familiar with either term. Also, 41 respondents (68%) felt that loss of antibiotic susceptibility is a major issue at UCI. Regarding barriers to diagnosing infections, 54 (93%) of 58 thought that it was difficult to obtain blood cultures and 48 (86%) of 56 thought that it was difficult to regularly measure temperatures. CONCLUSIONS: Although most recognized the term “antimicrobial resistance,” fewer were familiar with the term “antimicrobial stewardship.” Inappropriate antibiotic use was recognized as a contributor to antimicrobial resistance, but hand hygiene was underrecognized as a contributing factor. We identified numerous barriers to diagnosing infections, including the ability to obtain blood cultures and consistently monitor temperatures. Educating staff regarding antimicrobial selection, allocating resources for blood cultures, and implementing strategies to enhance fever detection will improve infection management.
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spelling pubmed-97265582022-12-07 Knowledge and perceptions of antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial stewardship among staff at a national cancer referral center in Uganda Gulleen, Elizabeth A. Lubwama, Margaret Komakech, Alfred Krantz, Elizabeth M. Liu, Catherine Phipps, Warren Antimicrob Steward Healthc Epidemiol Original Article OBJECTIVES: As access to cancer care has improved throughout sub-Saharan Africa, treatment-associated infections have increased. Assessing healthcare worker knowledge of antimicrobial stewardship and identifying the barriers to infection management will inform the development of contextually appropriate antimicrobial stewardship programs, improving cancer outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. SETTING: The Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI), a national cancer referral center in Kampala, Uganda. PARTICIPANTS: We surveyed 61 UCI staff: 29 nurses, 7 pharmacists, and 25 physicians. METHODS: The survey contained 25 questions and 1 ranking exercise. We examined differences in responses by staff role. RESULTS: All 60 respondents who answered the question had heard the term “antimicrobial resistance.” Only 44 (73%) had heard the term “antimicrobial stewardship.” Nurses were less likely than pharmacists or physicians to be familiar with either term. Also, 41 respondents (68%) felt that loss of antibiotic susceptibility is a major issue at UCI. Regarding barriers to diagnosing infections, 54 (93%) of 58 thought that it was difficult to obtain blood cultures and 48 (86%) of 56 thought that it was difficult to regularly measure temperatures. CONCLUSIONS: Although most recognized the term “antimicrobial resistance,” fewer were familiar with the term “antimicrobial stewardship.” Inappropriate antibiotic use was recognized as a contributor to antimicrobial resistance, but hand hygiene was underrecognized as a contributing factor. We identified numerous barriers to diagnosing infections, including the ability to obtain blood cultures and consistently monitor temperatures. Educating staff regarding antimicrobial selection, allocating resources for blood cultures, and implementing strategies to enhance fever detection will improve infection management. Cambridge University Press 2022-04-06 /pmc/articles/PMC9726558/ /pubmed/36483337 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/ash.2022.28 Text en © The Author(s) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original article is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Article
Gulleen, Elizabeth A.
Lubwama, Margaret
Komakech, Alfred
Krantz, Elizabeth M.
Liu, Catherine
Phipps, Warren
Knowledge and perceptions of antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial stewardship among staff at a national cancer referral center in Uganda
title Knowledge and perceptions of antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial stewardship among staff at a national cancer referral center in Uganda
title_full Knowledge and perceptions of antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial stewardship among staff at a national cancer referral center in Uganda
title_fullStr Knowledge and perceptions of antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial stewardship among staff at a national cancer referral center in Uganda
title_full_unstemmed Knowledge and perceptions of antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial stewardship among staff at a national cancer referral center in Uganda
title_short Knowledge and perceptions of antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial stewardship among staff at a national cancer referral center in Uganda
title_sort knowledge and perceptions of antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial stewardship among staff at a national cancer referral center in uganda
topic Original Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9726558/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36483337
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/ash.2022.28
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