ID 224. Knowledge and Perception of Medical Officers and Hospital Pharmacist Towards Antibiotics and Antimicrobial Stewardship in Punjab, Pakistan.

Introduction: In this era of antimicrobial resistance, knowledge of antibiotics and antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) is paramount for rational use of medications. AMS is considered a core element in the current clinical guidelines in the developed world. However, in Pakistan, the notion, scope and implementation of AMS remain skimpy. Objectives: To appraise the knowledge and perception of Medical Officers (MOs) and Hospital Pharmacists (HPs) about antibiotics and AMS. Materials and Methods: Cross sectional study using a validated questionnaire. Descriptive statistics was used to measure the median and difference in both groups was measured through Mann Whitney U test using SPSS version 23.0. Results: A total of (n= 343) responded to the survey of which n= 308 (89.8%) were MOs and n= 35 (10.2%) were HPs. The perceptions of HPs regarding potential benefits of AMS programs were positive and significantly higher (77.1%) as compared to 52%. Further, 61.4% and 68.6% of MOs and HPs respectively, favored the incorporation of AMS programs in community pharmacy. The overall score showed statistically significant difference (p=0.271) of perceptions among MOs and HPs and the overall score revealed that knowledge of MOs and PPs was statistically significantly different (p=0.145). Conclusion: The knowledge of antibiotic stewardship is better in HPs than MOs, however, the perceptions on AMS are generally positive in both groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]