Balancing the risks to individual and society: a systematic review and synthesis of qualitative research on antibiotic prescribing behaviour in hospitals.

BACKGROUND: Antimicrobial resistance is a global health threat, partly driven by inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions for acute medical patients in hospitals. AIM: To provide a systematic review of qualitative research on antibiotic prescribing decisions in hospitals worldwide, including broad-spectrum antibiotic use. METHODS: A systematic search of qualitative research on antibiotic prescribing for adult hospital patients published between 2007 and 2017 was conducted. Drawing on the Health Belief Model, a framework synthesis was conducted to assess threat perceptions associated with antimicrobial resistance, and perceived benefits and barriers associated with antibiotic stewardship. FINDINGS: The risk of antimicrobial resistance was generally perceived to be serious, but the abstract and long-term nature of its consequences led physicians to doubt personal susceptibility. While prescribers believed in the benefits of optimizing prescribing, the direct link between over-prescribing and antimicrobial resistance was questioned, and prescribers' behaviour change was frequently considered futile when fighting the complex problem of antimicrobial resistance. The salience of individual patient risks was a key barrier to more conservative prescribing. Physicians perceived broad-spectrum antibiotics to be effective and low risk; prescribing broad-spectrum antibiotics involved low cognitive demand and enabled physicians to manage patient expectations. Antibiotic prescribing decisions in low-income countries were shaped by a context of heightened uncertainty and risk due to poor microbiology and infection control services. CONCLUSIONS: When tackling antimicrobial resistance, the tensions between immediate individual risks and long-term collective risks need to be taken into account. Efforts to reduce diagnostic uncertainty and to change risk perceptions will be critical in shifting practice

Optimising antibiotic prescribing: Collective approaches to managing a common-pool resource.

BACKGROUND: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the greatest threats in 21st century medicine. AMR has been characterised as a social dilemma. A familiar version describes the situation in which a collective resource (in this case, antibiotic efficacy) is exhausted due to over-exploitation. The dilemma arises because individuals are motivated to maximise individual payoffs, although the collective outcome is worse if all act in this way. OBJECTIVES: We aim to outline the implications for antimicrobial stewardship of characterising antibiotic overuse as a social dilemma. SOURCES: We conducted a narrative review of the literature on interventions to promote the conservation of resources in social dilemmas. CONTENT: The social dilemma of antibiotic over-use is complicated by the lack of visibility and imminence of AMR, a loose coupling between individual actions and the outcome of AMR, and the agency relationships inherent in the prescriber role. We identify seven strategies for shifting prescriber behaviour and promoting a focus on the collectively desirable outcome of conservation of antibiotic efficacy: (1) establish clearly defined boundaries and access rights; (2) raise the visibility and imminence of the problem; (3) enable collective choice arrangements; (4) conduct behaviour-based monitoring; (5) use social and reputational incentives and sanctions; (6) address misalignment of goals and incentives; and (7) provide conflict resolution mechanisms. IMPLICATIONS: We conclude that this theoretic analysis of antibiotic stewardship could make the problem of optimising antibiotic prescribing more tractable, providing a theory base for intervention development