Public healthcare practitioners’ knowledge, attitudes and practices related to oral antibiotic prescriptions for dental use in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal

Health SA Gesondheid

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Public healthcare practitioners’ knowledge, attitudes and practices related to oral antibiotic prescriptions for dental use in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal
 
Creator Ramnarain, Prishana Singh, Shenuka
 
Subject dentistry; dental public health oral antibiotics; prescriptions; health practitioners; public health
Description Background: There is limited published evidence on health workers’ perspectives on trends in oral antibiotic prescription for dental conditions in the public health sector.Aim: This study set to determine healthcare practitioners’ knowledge, attitudes and practices related to oral antibiotic prescriptions for dental use.Setting: This included two public hospitals in Pietermaritzburg.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study using quantitative data. Purposive sampling was used to select medical and dental practitioners from Institution A and B (n = 122). A self-administered questionnaire was developed using open and close-ended questions. Data were collected and analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM SPSS version 25R).Results: The response rate for the study was 72.1%. The majority of study participants (n = 72, 81.8%) indicated awareness of an antibiotic stewardship programme in their respective institutions. However, a significant number (n = 42; 47.7%) of participants were unsure of whether this programme was active. Most participants (n = 80, 90.9%) indicated the need for improving oral antibiotic prescription for dental conditions. Participants indicated prescription of antibiotics for orofacial swellings (n = 52; 59.0%) and dental pain related to irreversible pulpitis (n = 29; 32.9%), reversible pulpitis (n = 33; 37.5%) and dental fillings (n = 15; 17.0%). Antibiotics were also prescribed for pericoronitis (n = 58; 65.9%), periodontitis (n = 57; 64.7%) and impacted teeth (n = 21; 23.8%). All dental practitioners (n = 14) supported the need for antibiotic cover for pericoronitis and periodontitis.Conclusion: The results indicated inconsistencies in healthcare practitioners’ reported knowledge, attitudes and practices related to antibiotic prescription patterns.Contribution: This study highlights the need for clear evidence-based guidelines for antibiotic prescription for dental conditions.
 
Publisher AOSIS Publishing
 
Contributor
Date 2022-04-29
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Quantitative
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/hsag.v27i0.1832
 
Source Health SA Gesondheid; Vol 27 (2022); 7 pages 2071-9736 1025-9848
 
Language eng
 
Relation
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Coverage KwaZulu-Natal; Pietermaritzburg 2019-2020 Adults aged 18 and above; All genders; All ethnicities
Rights Copyright (c) 2022 Prishana Ramnarain, Shenuka Singh https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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