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April 19, 2007 — Teaching parents about proper antibiotics use remains a challenge because it's difficult to reach that population, unless of course you go through their childcare centers. So that's exactly what researchers from the Wisconsin Antibiotics Research Network (WARN) did with an educational program in 2000/2001. WARN staff presented a 45-minute slide show presentation about appropriate antibiotics use to workers at childcare centers. They later surveyed parents to see whether those educational messages were passed along. The findings are published in the latest issue of the Wisconsin Medical Journal.
"In this study, we found that parents with children in the intervention centers were more aware of the increased risk for a resistant infection when antibiotics are used inappropriately," the researchers reported. "If this awareness translates into fewer visits for typical cold symptoms and a lowered expectation for antibiotics, physicians might be more restrictive in their use of antibiotics."
The study involved 151 parents in the "intervention" sites and 361 parents in
the control group, measuring both knowledge and attitudes regarding antibiotics
use. For example, 88 percent of college-educated intervention parents (verses 73
percent of control parents) correctly agreed with the following
statement:
My child is more likely to develop an infection that is hard to
treat if he/she takes antibiotics when they are not needed.
"Health care professionals and public health officials might consider incorporating parent education through childcare facility staff as part of judicious antibiotic use efforts and including them as partners in coalitions to reduce inappropriate antimicrobial prescribing," the authors conclude.
The researchers represented the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation and Wisconsin's Division of Public Health. The Wisconsin Medical Society was a founding member of the five-year WARN project.