ANTIBIOTIC USE IN SOCIETY: A SECTION FROM BOLU

Abstract

Purpose: The overuse and inappropriate use of antibiotics has reached levels that threaten public health today. This research was carried out to determine the level of antibiotic use of people living with Bolu. Materials and Methods: The research is a population-based, cross-sectional study. The population of the research consisted of people living in 23 neighborhoods in the city center. Neighborhoods (n=3) and participants (n=584) were determined by multi-stage probability sampling method. A total of 537 people completed the study because 47 people did not agree to participate in the study. The data of the study were collected between June 2017 and March 2018 with a survey form created by the researchers through literature review. Results: 80.6% of the participants used antibiotics in the last month, but 78.2% stopped using antibiotics. Since 67.4% of the participants recovered and 39.7% wanted to use it later, they did not complete the antibiotic treatment. 66.2% of the participants stated that the purpose of using antibiotics was to treat infectious diseases. It was observed that being a woman carries a risk in terms of antibiotic use (p=0.007). It was found that high school and university graduates and retired participants had more knowledge about antibiotic drugs than the other participants (p=0.001; p=0.003). Conclusion: Gender, education and occupation variables have a significant effect on antibiotic use. It is especially important that women, state officers and those with high school or higher education be properly conscious of the rational use of antibiotics.

Keywords

• antibiotics; community health
• community health nursing
• drug utilization evaluation