Behavioral Intervention

Abstract

Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) and the World Health Organization (WHO) Access, Watch, and Reserve (AWaRe) classification support the appropriate use and monitoring of antibiotics. To assess healthcare professionals' (HCPs) knowledge of and attitudes towards AMS and the WHO AWaRe classification at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital (TASH), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A total of 114 (35.7%) had heard of the AWaRe classification, 105 (32.9%) correctly identified WHO as its publisher, and 97 (30.4%) correctly identified the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines as a source of AWaRe-classified antibiotics. The findings identify perceived training, resource, and collaboration gaps at one tertiary hospital and support the evaluation of locally appropriate educational and institutional AMS interventions in the future.

Abstract

The majority of the participants were female (70.3%), aged 35–44 (38.4%), with an associate/bachelor's degree (56.4%), were married (77.4%), with ≥ 16 years of experience, with an intermediate title (38.4%), working in tertiary hospitals (57.9%), working in the gastroenterology department (58.3%), without training tasks (75.1%), without research tasks (85.5%), working in hospitals providing H. pylori tests (92.7%), attended H. pylori-related training (77.6%), without a history of H. pylori infection (47.5%), and seeing 0–5 patients with H. pylori infection per month (33.0%) (Table 1). Because attitudes and practices were self-reported, social desirability bias could have affected their measurement and, consequently, the magnitude of the estimated indirect effect of knowledge on practice via attitudes, although the direction of the knowledge-attitude-practice pathway is consistent with the theoretical KAP framework and prior empirical work50. In the context of our structural equation model, any systematic over-reporting of attitudes and practices could have influenced the magnitude of the estimated attitude → practice path and the indirect effect of knowledge on practice via attitudes, thus, the mediation estimates should be interpreted with caution. Author information Authors and Affiliations Department of Gastroenterology, The Second Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Shanxi, 030000, China Yonghua Chen, Bo Fan, Ting Wu, Yufei Duan, Hang Mi, Zewen Miao & Lili Yuan Contributions Yonghua Chen and Lili Yuan carried out the studies, participated in their design and data collection, performed the statistical analysis, and drafted the manuscript.Yonghua Chen, Lili Yuan, and Ting Wu participated in its design.Lili Yuan, Yonghua Chen, Yufei Duan, Zewen Miao, and Hang Mi participated in data collection.Yonghua Chen, Lili Yuan, and Ting Wu participated in the analysis or interpretation of data and drafted the manuscript.

Abstract

Prescribing an antibiotic with a black box warning, the US Food and Drug Administration's most stringent safety warning, should not be done lightly or simply as a preventative measure," Correa wrote in a letter last month to the American Dental Association (ADA), American Medical Association, California Dental Association (CDA), and California Medical Association. "When that decision is made, they need to adequately inform patients of the risks and potential side effects, so they can quickly seek medical care if needed." Antibiotic prescribing up 6% in dentistry A CIDRAP News investigation published in February featured the story of Dolores Hernandez Owens, 92, the matriarch of a large family in Orange County, who died from a bowel infection after being prescribed clindamycin by a dentist. "As dentists, we have a duty to consider the potential harm of any intervention we undertake," Paumier wrote in an editorial published in the October issue of the Journal of the American Dental Association. Many of us were taught that antibiotics only help patients, and the harm, if any, is less than the potential benefit." Flournoy, who has spoken with Paumier, said he hopes the ADA "will continue to lead the charge in reaching dentists across the country and advocating for meaningful changes." Yet professional organizations such as the ADA can do only so much."

Abstract

The majority of the studies (88%) came from the United States, in part because the Sunshine Act (2010) requires pharmaceutical companies to publicly report details of all payments to doctors, which are compiled in a publicly searchable and analyzable database. Overall, when doctors have more contact with drug company promotion, prescribing tends to become less appropriate, more frequent and more expensive," says study author Dr. Lisa Bero from the University of Colorado Anschutz in the United States. This review found that even inexpensive meals increased opioid prescribing and that the more payments a doctor received from opioid manufacturers, the more likely they were to prescribe dangerously high opioid doses. While this review found that drug promotion negatively influences prescribing across a broad range of drugs and clinical settings, the authors wish to emphasize that this is not about a few "bad apples," but about improving the system."

Abstract

Teddy bears fitted with medical devices such as gastrostomy (feeding) tubes may help normalize the devices and lessen medical anxiety in children who need them, according to a project presented during the American Academy of Pediatrics 2026 National Conference & Exhibition Oct. 2–6, 2026, at the San Diego Convention Center. The program, outlined in an abstract titled The Teddy Bear Clinic: A Therapeutic Play Intervention to Normalize Pediatric Medical Devices," offers benefits to medical students, pediatric residents and their patients. The additional suture practice also helps medical students and residents become more confident in their abilities, and the bears can double as a peer education tool. "Therapeutic play has long been used to ease children's medical fears, but this advocacy project specifically targets the body image and self-consciousness piece, the part of a child's experience tied to feeling 'different' because of a medical device," explained Anders Jenson, a PGY-2 pediatric resident at Mayo Clinic."