 Antibiotic prescription: Knowledge among physicians and nurses in western SwedenFredrik Carlsson, Gunnar Jacobsson and Elina Lampi Health Policy, 2023, vol. 130, issue C Abstract: Misuse and overuse of antibiotics are common in primary care. Guidelines for prescribing of antibiotics are often not followed We conducted a survey of 120 health centers in western Sweden to investigate to what extent physicians and nurses think they know and comply with the guidelines for prescribing of antibiotics. A large majority of the respondents answered that they know the guidelines well. However, many also believed that physicians/nurses in general know less about and are worse at following the guidelines than themselves, indicating optimism bias. According to the respondents the main reason for non-compliance with guidelines was patient expectations. The survey also showed that both physicians’ and nurses’ actual knowledge of when it is effective to prescribe antibiotics is incomplete. Interventions to reduce unnecessary antibiotic therapy in primary care should target the failing congruence between the perceived knowledge of guidelines for antibiotic therapy and actual knowledge. Keywords: Antibiotic prescription; Attitude and knowledge; Guidelines; Primary care; Optimism bias (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:130:y:2023:i:c:s0168851023000349 DOI: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2023.104733 Access Statistics for this article Health Policy is currently edited by Katrien Kesteloot, Mia Defever and Irina Cleemput More articles in Health Policy from Elsevier |
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