Strand 1 - Antimicrobials and young people

13:00 - 13:20 Awareness of Antimicrobial Resistance in Young People

Johnson, A, Hindmarsh, K, Kilty, R, Otour, I, Donovan, G; University of Sunderland

Currently antimicrobial resistance is a huge problem throughout the world with a lot of the public being uninformed or misinformed. Part of tackling this issue is making sure the public has a good understanding of what antibiotics are and how they should be appropriately used.

In this project a group of 188 students from Sunderland College were asked to participate in a questionnaire that was designed to investigate four main areas: information about themselves and what exposure they have had to the issue, their experience with antibiotics, what they currently know about antibiotic awareness and what they thought about the use of antibiotics.

It was found that current advertising strategies were not effective enough in getting the required information across and it was clear that the young people received a lot of their information from school. However, contrary to this, the participants’ knowledge excelled in the area of how to use antibiotics properly instead of what they were likely to learn in school about fundamental concepts on the topic.

This project sheds light on key information, showing the importance of the younger generation.

13:20 - 13:40 Investigating chlamydia screening for young people in the community pharmacy setting

Lara Ahmaro, Newcastle University

Chlamydia is the most commonly diagnosed sexually transmitted infection in England. Its prevalence is greatest amongst 15-24 year olds. If left untreated, the infection can cause a range of health complications including infertility in both sexes. Under the National Chlamydia Screening Programme, free chlamydia screening and treatment is available for young people in GP surgeries, community pharmacies, and GUM clinics.

In 2017, community pharmacies in North East England only contributed 1% to the chlamydia screening service compared with other healthcare settings. To understand why, this study proposes to use a multi-faceted approach to investigate the factors that influence the uptake of screening. It aims to explore the perceptions and beliefs of young people about the pharmacy screening service, the views of pharmacists and support staff who offer the testing kit and the views of local authority contract managers who commission the service to pharmacies.

This presentation will discuss the rationale for the study, the proposed methodology, and planned dissemination and recommendations to policy makers, pharmaceutical committees, and youth organisations, addressing patient, provider and organisational factors and informing practice in community pharmacies.