Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Developing a Tool for Auditing the Quality of Antibiotic Dispensing in Community Pharmacies: A Pilot Study

Maarten Lambert
* ORCID logo ,
Ria Benkő
ORCID logo ,
Athina Chalkidou
,
Jesper Lykkegaard
,
Malene Plejdrup Hansen
ORCID logo ,
Carl Llor
,
Pia Touboul Lundgren
ORCID logo ,
Indrė Trečiokienė
,
Maria-Nefeli Karkana
,
Anna Kowalczyk
ORCID logo ,
Katja Taxis
ORCID logo
Version 1 : Received: 23 September 2022 / Approved: 27 September 2022 / Online: 27 September 2022 (03:26:25 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Lambert, M.; Benkő, R.; Chalkidou, A.; Lykkegaard, J.; Hansen, M.P.; Llor, C.; Touboul, P.; Trečiokienė, I.; Karkana, M.-N.; Kowalczyk, A.; Taxis, K. Developing a Tool for Auditing the Quality of Antibiotic Dispensing in Community Pharmacies: A Pilot Study. Antibiotics 2022, 11, 1529. Lambert, M.; Benkő, R.; Chalkidou, A.; Lykkegaard, J.; Hansen, M.P.; Llor, C.; Touboul, P.; Trečiokienė, I.; Karkana, M.-N.; Kowalczyk, A.; Taxis, K. Developing a Tool for Auditing the Quality of Antibiotic Dispensing in Community Pharmacies: A Pilot Study. Antibiotics 2022, 11, 1529.

Abstract

Background. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control describes the community pharmacist as 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.

Keywords

community pharmacy practice; dispensing quality; antibiotics; antimicrobial resistance; Audit Project Odense

Subject

Medicine and Pharmacology, Pharmacy

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Download PDF

Comments (0)

We encourage comments and feedback from a broad range of readers. See criteria for comments and our Diversity statement.

Leave a public comment
Send a private comment to the author(s)
* All users must log in before leaving a comment
Views 0
Downloads 0
Comments 0
Metrics 0
Get PDF Cite Share 0
Bookmark BibSonomy Mendeley Reddit Delicious
×
Alerts
Notify me about updates to this article or when a peer-reviewed version is published.
We use cookies on our website to ensure you get the best experience.
Read more about our cookies here.