Validation and implementation of a national survey to assess antimicrobial stewardship awareness, practices and perceptions amongst community pharmacists in Australia

Abstract

Objectives: Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) programmes are well established in hospitals, yet such programmes have not been widely implemented in the community. Understanding current practices and perceptions of community pharmacists about AMS may provide insights into the implementation of AMS in community pharmacies. The aims of this study were to validate a questionnaire to measure community pharmacists' perceptions of AMS and to explore barriers and facilitators to their involvement in community-based AMS initiatives.

Methods: A 44-item survey questionnaire comprising sections on demographics, AMS practices and perceptions of community pharmacists, and barriers and facilitators to AMS was hosted online. Community pharmacists were recruited through social media pages of community pharmacist groups across Australia. Cronbach's alpha and exploratory factor analysis were used to measure the reliability and validity of the survey tool, respectively.

Results: A total of 330 community pharmacists started the survey, with 255 of them completing at least one question. Pharmacists were more likely to intervene with general practitioners (GPs) (≥80% of the time) for allergies, dosing and drug interactions and were less likely to intervene if they felt the choice of antibiotic was inappropriate (45%). Major barriers limiting pharmacists' participation in AMS were lack of access both to patient data (82.6%) and to a standard guideline to implement AMS programmes (72.1%). Almost all pharmacists (98%) reported that better collaboration with GPs would improve their participation in AMS initiatives.

Conclusion: Future studies utilising the knowledge gained from this study may provide a framework for AMS in community pharmacy settings.

Keywords: Antimicrobial stewardship; Barriers; Community pharmacy; Facilitators; Online survey; Pharmacist.