title: Antibiotic prescription behaviours in Lao People's Democratic Republic: a knowledge, attitude and practice survey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the antibiotic prescribing practices of doctors working in the Lao People's Democratic Republic and their knowledge of local antibiotic resistance patterns.
  
  
  METHODS
  Doctors attending morning meetings in 25 public hospitals in four provinces were asked to complete a knowledge, attitude and practice survey. The questionnaire contained 43 multiple choice questions that the doctor answered at the time of the meeting.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The response rate was 83.4% (386/463). Two hundred and seventy doctors (59.8%) declared that they had insufficient information about antibiotics. Only 14.0% (54/386) recognized the possibility of cephalosporin cross-resistance in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Most participants had no information about local antibiotic resistance for Salmonella Typhi (211/385, 54.8%) and hospital-acquired pneumonia (253/384, 65.9%). Unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions were considered as harmless by 115 participants and 148 considered locally-available generic antibiotics to be of poor quality. Nearly three-quarters (280/386) of participants agreed that it was difficult to select the correct antibiotics. Most participants (373/386) welcomed educational programmes on antibiotic prescribing and 65.0% (249/383) preferred local over international antibiotic guidelines.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Doctors in the Lao People's Democratic Republic seem to favour antibiotic prescribing interventions. Health authorities should consider a capacity building programme that incorporates antibiotic prescribing and hospital infection control.
authors.affiliation: UMR 1094 (Université de Limoges Inserm/CHU de Limoges), Limoges, France .
authors.forename: Fabrice
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Quet
authors.affiliation: Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nationalestraat 155, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium .
authors.forename: Erika
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vlieghe
authors.affiliation: Fondation Mérieux, Lyon, France .
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Leyer
authors.affiliation: Institut de la Francophonie pour la Médecine Tropicale (IFMT), Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic Republic.
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Buisson
authors.affiliation: Lao-Oxford-Mahosot Hospital-Wellcome Trust Research Unit, Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic Republic.
authors.forename: Paul N
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Newton
authors.affiliation: Institut de la Francophonie pour la Médecine Tropicale (IFMT), Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic Republic.
authors.forename: Philaysak
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Naphayvong
authors.affiliation: Institut de la Francophonie pour la Médecine Tropicale (IFMT), Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic Republic.
authors.forename: Valy
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Keoluangkhot
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Microbiologie Centre Hospitalier, Lyon-Sud Pierre-Bénite, France .
authors.forename: Monique
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chomarat
authors.affiliation: Fondation Mérieux, Lyon, France .
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Longuet
authors.affiliation: Fondation Mérieux, Lyon, France .
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Steenkeste
authors.affiliation: Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nationalestraat 155, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium .
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jacobs
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D004363:Drug Utilization; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007812:Laos; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents