title: The knowledge, attitude and the perception of prescribers on the rational use of antibiotics and the need for an antibiotic policy-a cross sectional survey in a tertiary care hospital.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Antibiotics are prescribed frequently and there is always an overuse with a risk of resistance and increasing costs. Rational drug prescribing is essential for minimizing the health care costs and for reducing the resistance. The implementation of a strict antibiotic policy by all the health care institutes is being made mandatory nowadays. An improving awareness among the prescribers which can be created through educational interventions, can promote the rational use of antibiotics. Hence, we considered it worthwhile to study the knowledge, attitude and the perception of the practitioners towards a rational antibiotic use.
  
  
  METHODS
  All the registered practitioners who were working in the hospital setting and were willing to give written informed consents, were enrolled in the study. All the participants who were enrolled in the study during a one month period, had to fill up a predesigned, structured and validated questionnaire which was used to assess the knowledge, attitude and the perception among physicians towards the rational use of antibiotics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  About 65% of the participants who provided complete information in the questionnaire, were included in analysis. Among them, more than 50 % agreed on the existence of an essential drug list, on the knowledge about new antibiotics and on prescribing antibiotics rationally and on the interpretation of the culture and the sensitivity results. A majority strongly agreed that they ensured that their patients completed the course, that they provided counselling and that they took special interest in the proper use of antibiotics. There was a consensus on the overuse, issues of resistance, and on the input from fellow colleagues.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The participants in our study had knowledge about the rational use of antibiotics, an attitude to prescribe drugs as per the essential drug list and a perception that antibiotics were being overused and that rational drug prescribing had an important role in the antibiotic resistance.
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, Dr. Somervell Memorial CSI Medical College , Karakonam,Trivandrum, Kerala, India .
authors.forename: Ambili
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Remesh
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Gayathri
authors.forename: Rohit
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: K G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Retnavally
keywords: Antibiotic policy; Drug resistance; Rational drug use