A novel approach to help people differentiate between and among antibiotics and other medicines. Citation, summary and extracts below.
CITATION: Is this pill an antibiotic or a painkiller? Improving the identification of oral antibiotics for better use
Annelie A Monnier et al.
Viewpoint| volume 11, issue 8, e1308-e1313, august 2023
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(23)00258-9
SUMMARY
In this Viewpoint, we discuss how the identification of oral antibiotics and their distinction from other commonly used medicines can be challenging for consumers, suppliers, and health-care professionals. There is a large variation in the names that people use to refer to antibiotics and these often relate to their physical appearance, although antibiotics come in many different physical presentations. We also reflect on how the physical appearance of medicine influences health care and public health by affecting communication between patients and health-care professionals, dispensing , medicine use, and the public understanding of health campaigns. Furthermore, we report expert and stakeholder consultations on improving the identification of oral antibiotics and discuss next steps towards a new identification system for antibiotics. We propose to use the physical appearance as a tool to support and nudge awareness about antibiotics and their responsible use.
EXTRACTS
'How can individuals be properly educated not to use an antibiotic for influenza-like illness, if they have not been trained to differentiate between an antibiotic and a painkiller and recognise antibiotics clearly?...
'We conducted five online roundtable meetings and additional consultations to discuss improving the identification of oral antibiotics from 2020 to 2022...
'We propose the use of physical appearance tools to improve the identification of oral antibiotics and distinction from other commonly sold medicines such as painkillers.'
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org
