Community pharmacist referral to general practice – unexplored territory in reducing antibiotic resistance (pilot study).

2019 HSM Early Career Researcher Seed Grant $16,800 AUD

Antibiotic resistance is a global threat to society. Antibiotic use is the key driver of antibiotic resistance, and it is a common assumption that reducing use will reduce resistance. Antibiotic use is most common in the community, interventions that target community antibiotic use stand to make the greatest impact on antibiotic resistance.

So far, most interventions have focused on changing the prescriber behaviour (i.e. general practitioner or GP); however, Australia still has one of the highest rates of inappropriate antibiotic prescribing.
In order to continue to reduce antibiotic resistance, it seems that multifaceted approaches targeting all stakeholders in the supply chain are required. Therefore, this grant focuses on the role of the community pharmacist (CPs) as they are another vital link in reducing antibiotic use.

A known driver for antibiotic prescribing is patient GP visits; that is, just by being in the GP office increases the likelihood of antibiotic prescription. Anecdotal evidence suggests that CPs frequently refer patients to GPs for antibiotics; however, the extent of this has never been quantified before.

We aim to quantify the referral rates of CPs to GPs for antibiotics. We anticipate the findings of this study could uncover new intervention avenues to reduce antibiotic resistance.

We aim to quantify CP referral rates to GPs for antibiotics. We plan to fulfil this aim through prospective audit in both CPs and GPs settings to estimate the proportion of:
- patients presenting to the pharmacy with minor ailments that are recommended medical referral for antibiotic, as recorded by the pharmacist; and
- GP clinic visits for infection are due to CP referral.