Effect of Educational Intervention on Prescription of Antibiotics by General Dentists in Qom, Iran

Background and Objectives:  Irrational use of antibiotics is one of the concerns in dentistry due to causing antimicrobial resistance and imposing cost burden on the patients. This study aims to evaluate the effect of educational intervention on prescription of antibiotics by general dentists in Qom, Iran. Methods: This study was conducted for three months on 134 general dentists in Qom province  in two groups of intervention (n=67) and control (n=67). The intervention group participated in a seminar as a retraining course. Descriptive statistics including mean, standard deviation, percentage, and frequency were used to describe the data, and chi-square test was used to compare the two groups. Results: The data of 22418 prescriptions containing antibiotics were evaluated. The mean number of prescriptions in the intervention group before and after retraining was 62.73 and 72.92, respectively (P= 0.043), indicating a significant increase after retraining. The mean number of prescriptions in the control group before and after retraining was 96.88 and 100.06, respectively but there was no significant difference (P= 0.57). There was no significant difference in the number of prescriptions between the two groups after retraining (P=0.09). Conclusion: The educational intervention is relatively unsuccessful may be due to lack of motivation, lack of useful and effective teaching methods, and lack of participation in group discussions

Medication errors, pharmacological knowledge and interventions amongst employed pharmacy technicians in qom drugstores, Iran: A cross-sectional study

Introduction: Different factors are effective in medication errors, but some dispensing errors may occur by the pharmacy technicians due to the expanded responsibilities of them and lack of standardised training. This study aimed to assess the pharmacy technician awareness in different dimensions including pharmacological knowledge, interventions and medication errors in employed technicians of Qom pharmacies. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in all 101 employed pharmacy technicians in medical pharmacies of Qom, Iran, in 2017. The data collection conducted by a standard researcher-made questionnaire. The questionnaire was including demographic characteristics, pharmacological knowledge, intervention and medication errors. Data were analysed by t-test, analysis of variance and Pearson's correlation coefficient tests in SPSS. Results: The mean score in pharmacological knowledge, interventions and medication errors was 5.72 ± 2.35, 1.05 ± 0.744 and 6.68 ± 2.26, respectively. Moreover, the total score of pharmacological awareness was 13.45 ± 3.96. Only 12% of the pharmacy technicians in Qom educated in medical field, 45% were diploma and lower and 61% of participants reported that they have not passed any educational pharmacological courses. The mean score of pharmacological knowledge (P = 0.010) and errors (P = 0.026) and the total score of pharmacological awareness (P = 0.005) were significantly lower in 23 years' age group and higher in 23-year-old pharmacological technicians. Moreover, week-work is directly associated with medication errors. Gender, job history and educational field are related factors in pharmacological knowledge of pharmacy technicians. Conclusion: The mean score of pharmacological knowledge, intervention and medication errors of pharmacy technicians was moderate. Nevertheless, there was some main challenge in Iranian pharmacy staffs including irrelevant education of pharmacy technicians, low educational level and low experience job in drugstores