Community and Hospital Programs to Reduce Unnecessary Antibiotic Use in Rural Vietnam

What this Trial Is About

This research aims to develop community-based interventions to reduce inappropriate antibiotic dispensing and use in rural Vietnam. It focuses on three parts community and primary healthcare interventions, hospital interventions, and qualitative evaluation. The study tests whether educational and participatory action research methods can lower unnecessary antibiotic use, improve prescription practices for acute respiratory infections, and enhance antibiotic stewardship in hospitals. It also seeks to understand how engagement activities influence behavior in the community and healthcare settings. The study uses a four-armed cluster randomized controlled trial in 64 rural communes, divided into a control group and three intervention groups. Interventions include revising antibiotic prescribing guidelines, training primary healthcare doctors, providing community education through posters and media, and involving local facilitators in participatory action research groups. Hospital interventions involve quality improvement cycles led by trained facilitators and stewardship groups. The study will evaluate impacts through surveys, patient record reviews, and pharmacy data. Participants include community members, healthcare workers, and hospitals in the Nam Dinh Province. Researchers will collect data through interviews, observations, surveys, and health records over up to 18 months post-intervention. They will measure antibiotic use in the community, prescriptions for respiratory infections, hospital antibiotic treatments, knowledge about antibiotic resistance, and behavior change. The study also tracks participation in meetings and evaluates the cost and appropriateness of antibiotic treatments to improve stewardship practices.

Generating Collective Solutions to Reduce Unnecessary Antibiotic Use in Vietnam