Patients' antibiotic knowledge: a trial assessing the impact of verbal education

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of involving community pharmacy staff in patient education about antibiotic resistance, thus improving antibiotic knowledge. Methods: Thirty-four patients presenting a valid antibiotic script for dispensing at three community pharmacies in regional New South Wales, Australia were randomly allocated by ballot draw to an intervention group or control group. Those in the intervention group were provided with verbal education based on an Australian National Prescribing Service patient leaflet regarding antibiotics. Key findings: This paper presents pilot data indicating that there was a significant increase in antibiotic knowledge determined approximately 1month after receiving verbal antibiotic education (33.3 ± 40.8) as compared with patients not receiving verbal antibiotic education (-5.1 ± 23.0), t (18.9) = 2.957, P = 0.008. Conclusions: This study has shown that verbal education, provided within a community pharmacy, regarding antibiotics improved patients' knowledge about antibiotics and provides evidence for the critical role of pharmacy staff in patient education.