Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Antimicrobial Resistance and Stewardship in Primary Care Setting: From Understanding to Informing Interventions

Dear Colleagues,

Antimicrobial resistance is one of the major problems in the current scenario of the healthcare system. The latest evidence on the extent and impact of antimicrobial resistance highlights the growing threat of multi-drug resistant bacteria, particularly Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacteriaceae. The clinical, economic, and societal impacts of this resistance are significant, with a particular focus on the high resistance to third/fourth-generation Cephalosporins. Rising rates of AMR are inevitable as a result of extensive antibiotic use. The overwhelming resistance to commonly used antibiotics heralds urgent calls towards strengthening antimicrobial stewardship programs (AMS) and regular AMR regional surveillance.

The role of knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) in antimicrobial stewardship is vital for understanding how healthcare professionals and the public can effectively contribute to combating AMR. Numerous ongoing studies are applying the KAP model to investigate the root causes of inappropriate antibiotic use among healthcare professionals, patients, and general public, with most studies highlighting inadequate knowledge about the correct use of antibiotics and a high rate of self-medication. However, there is little evidence around how findings from KAP studies have been used to develop, design, implement, and evaluate antimicrobial stewardship interventions to improve appropriate antibiotic use to combat the rising threat of AMR. This is especially important because improved knowledge and attitude about antimicrobial resistance is consistently linked with more appropriate antibiotic prescribing behaviors among healthcare professionals. This topic is of particular importance to primary care setting where the majority of antibiotic use is happening, given the high rate of antibiotic self-purchase without prescriptions, especially among LMIC.

This Special Issue aims to provide comprehensive evidence on the quantification of the association between knowledge, attitudes regarding the practices of antibiotic prescribing, and how findings from KAP studies have been used to develop, design, implement, and evaluate antimicrobial stewardship interventions.

Dr. Amanj Kurdi
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Antibiotics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• antimicrobial resistance
• antimicrobial stewardship
• primary care
• knowledge, attitudes and practices
• antimicrobial stewardship interventions