TY - JOUR

T1 - Developing a Tool for Auditing the Quality of Antibiotic Dispensing in Community Pharmacies

T2 - A Pilot Study

AU - Lambert, Maarten

AU - Benki, Ria

AU - Chalkidou, Athina

AU - Lykkegaard, Jesper

AU - Hansen, Malene Plejdrup

AU - Llor, Carl

AU - Touboul, Pia

AU - Treciokiene, Indre

AU - Karkana, Maria-Nefeli

AU - Kowalczyk, Anna

AU - Taxis, Katja

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Background: The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control describes the community pharmacist as the gatekeeper to the quality of antibiotic use. The pharmacist has the responsibility to guard safe and effective antibiotic use; however, little is known about how this is implemented in practice. Aims: To assess the feasibility of a method to audit the quality of antibiotic dispensing in community pharmacy practice and to explore antibiotic dispensing practices in Greece, Lithuania, Poland, and Spain. Methods: The Audit Project Odense methodology to audit antibiotic dispensing practice was adapted for use in community pharmacy practice. Community pharmacists registered antibiotic dispensing on a specifically developed registration chart and were asked to provide feedback on the registration method. Results: Altogether, twenty pharmacists were recruited in four countries. They registered a total of 409 dispenses of oral antibiotics. Generally, pharmacists were positive about the feasibility of implementing the registration chart in practice. The frequency of checking for allergies, contraindications and interactions differed largely between the four countries. Pharmacists provided little advice to patients. The pharmacists rarely contacted prescribers. Conclusion: This tool seems to make it possible to get a useful picture of antibiotic dispensing patterns in community pharmacies. Dispensing practice does not seem to correspond with EU guidelines according to these preliminary results.

AB - Background: The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control describes the community pharmacist as the gatekeeper to the quality of antibiotic use. The pharmacist has the responsibility to guard safe and effective antibiotic use; however, little is known about how this is implemented in practice. Aims: To assess the feasibility of a method to audit the quality of antibiotic dispensing in community pharmacy practice and to explore antibiotic dispensing practices in Greece, Lithuania, Poland, and Spain. Methods: The Audit Project Odense methodology to audit antibiotic dispensing practice was adapted for use in community pharmacy practice. Community pharmacists registered antibiotic dispensing on a specifically developed registration chart and were asked to provide feedback on the registration method. Results: Altogether, twenty pharmacists were recruited in four countries. They registered a total of 409 dispenses of oral antibiotics. Generally, pharmacists were positive about the feasibility of implementing the registration chart in practice. The frequency of checking for allergies, contraindications and interactions differed largely between the four countries. Pharmacists provided little advice to patients. The pharmacists rarely contacted prescribers. Conclusion: This tool seems to make it possible to get a useful picture of antibiotic dispensing patterns in community pharmacies. Dispensing practice does not seem to correspond with EU guidelines according to these preliminary results.

KW - community pharmacy practice

KW - dispensing quality

KW - antibiotics

KW - antimicrobial resistance

KW - Audit Project Odense

KW - INTERVENTION

U2 - 10.3390/antibiotics11111529

DO - 10.3390/antibiotics11111529

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 36358183

VL - 11

JO - Antibiotics

JF - Antibiotics

SN - 2079-6382

IS - 11

M1 - 1529

ER -