Online Education Campaign to Improve Awareness and Appropriate Antibiotic Use for Respiratory Tract Conditions

Background: Antibiotics are often over used in the treatment of uncomplicated acute respiratory tract conditions. Over-use of antibiotics leads to antibiotic resistance. Consumer or patient lack of knowledge about antibiotics and expectations for use contribute to their inappropriate use. Aims: This project evaluated the impact of an online education tool designed to improve healthcare consumer awareness, knowledge, and desire for appropriate antibiotic use. Methods: An online educational tool that addressed appropriate consumer use of antibiotics was created. The tool included two short videos and 15 slides addressing antibiotic use and common respiratory tract conditions. The tool was evaluated with 23 scored pre/post questions that were completed by participants before and after the presentation. Participants were obtained from in person, email, and Facebook invitations. Descriptive statistics and two-sampled t-test were used to describe participants, responses, and changes. The pre/postpages were removed after evaluation. The tool is available for future and continued use for antibiotic use campaigns. Results: The pre-test mean score of 103 participants was 70%. The post-test mean score of 74 participants was 82%. There was an improved mean score of 12% among all participants, t(175) = 6.48, p < 0.001. Pairing the 74 participants that completed both pre and post questions the improved mean score was 10% (from 72% to 82%) t(146) = 5.20, p < 0.001. Statistically significant improvements were observed in 12 of the 23 scored questions. Overexpectation of antibiotics significantly decreased for sore throat, common cold, influenza, sinus infections, bronchitis, and yellow or green nasal discharge. Likely change in knowledge, attitude, and beliefs due to the presentation was reported as strongly agree by 8 (11%), agree 27 (36%), neutral 19 (26%), disagree 15 (20%), and strongly disagree 5 (7%). Of 88 responders, 73 (83%) reported learning something new. Conclusion: This project demonstrated that an online educational tool improved knowledge about antibiotic use and common respiratory tract conditions, decreased antibiotic expectation for common respiratory tract conditions, and improved likely changes. Keywords: respiratory tract infections, acute respiratory tract conditions, patient education, online educational tool, appropriate antibiotic use, expectation of antibiotics.