Patients, doctors think antibiotic resistance is not their problem: study

Many members of the public are not taking responsibility for their contribution to antibiotic resistance, research from Bond University has found. The World Health Organization has called antibiotic resistance one of the biggest threats to global public health. Over-prescription and overuse of antibiotics for people, in veterinary medicine and in agriculture, has contributed to the phenomenon. Research has suggested that while most people have heard of antibiotic resistance, they don’t understand it. In the study, 88 per cent of 55,225 participants believed the body becomes resistant to antibiotics, rather than bacteria becoming resistant. Many people also questioned the significance of their personal contribution to antibiotic resistance, as while 70 per cent knew overuse caused the problem, many thought other people were the main issue. “Whenever they were asked whether it was their antibiotic use that caused resistance, most attributed it to other patients using too many antibiotics, or doctors prescribing too many antibiotics,” said Dr Amanda McCullough, research fellow at Bond University’s faculty of health sciences and medicine. “The main problem is, patients did not think they used too many or that their antibiotic use was unnecessary.” Health professionals also tend to think this way – 98 per cent of 11,593 professionals said antibiotic resistance was a serious issue globally, but less than 70 per cent thought it was an issue for their individual clinical practice. Half said antibiotic resistance influenced whether or not they prescribed the drugs to a patient. McCullough said attitudes towards antibiotic resistance were similar to those on many global issues. “When it's such a big problem, it's easy to think that our individual contribution is so small so it doesn't matter,” she said. “Also, the consequences of resistance are so far down the line, they don't appear to be something that affects us personally. It's easy for us to think, ‘Oh, it's not a big problem, it's not going to be a problem for me.’ It's easy to think we are not contributing individually.” To combat resistance, members of the public should use antibiotics when absolutely necessary, McCullough said. She also gave a reminder that colds and coughs are viral and don’t require these drugs.