Using Weibo and WeChat social media channels to assess public awareness and practices related to antimicrobial resistance, China, 2019

Characterization and prevention of flame burns caused by electric bicycle battery chargers: results from a 7-year experience

OBJECTIVE

With the recent exponential increase in express deliveries across China, the number of patients with flame burns caused by electric bicycle battery chargers (BEBBC) has markedly increased in burn units. In this study, we aimed to characterize BEBBC to systematically explore measures to prevent their occurrence.

METHODS

We performed a retrospective chart review of patients with flame burns who visited the Burn Department of Rui Jin Hospital between January 2015 and December 2021.

RESULTS

Sixty-three patients with BEBBC and 1412 with types of other flame burn were included in this study. Fifty-six of the 63 BEBBC cases occurred between 9 pm and 7 am. BEBBC incidents involved a higher incidence of group burn in which multiple individuals were affected. Non-local patients with BEBBC were significantly younger than their local counterparts. BEBBC had a higher mortality than types of other flame burn.

CONCLUSIONS

The rising incidence of BEBBC calls for greater attention because of the associated high mortality and heavy burden on society. Enacting related legislation, disseminating information to the public, and improving treatment to control infection can help prevent BEBBC, increase its cure rate, and reduce patient mortality.

The public's antibiotic use behavioural patterns and their determinants for upper respiratory tract infections: a latent class analysis based on consumer behaviour model in China

Background

The irrational use of antibiotics among the public is a major contributor to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which is a serious global threat. Prior studies have demonstrated that there are different behavioural patterns regarding antibiotic use among the public, and targeted interventions for subgroups with different behavioural patterns may be more effective. Thus, this study aimed to identify the public's behavioural patterns of antibiotic use for upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) and their influencing factors.

Methods

A cross-sectional survey was conducted among the general population in Chongqing, China. Consumer decision-making (Consumer Behaviour Model, CBM) was used to assess the public's behaviours regarding antibiotic use, including need recognition, information searching, alternative evaluation, obtaining antibiotics, antibiotic consumption, and postuse evaluation. Furthermore, a latent class analysis was used to identify the underlying behavioural patterns among the public. The identified behavioural patterns of antibiotic use were further linked with individuals' capacity, opportunity, and motivation factors of antibiotic use based on a multinominal logistic regression to explore possible determinants.

Results

A total of 815 respondents were enrolled in the study. The public's irrational use of antibiotics was prevalent, including antibiotic self-medication (39.63%), nonprescription antibiotic purchasing (59.02%), and early stopping of antibiotic prescriptions (76.56%). Participants had inadequate knowledge of antibiotics (Mean = 2.33, SD = 1.71), reported high availability to antibiotics (Mean = 7.13, SD = 2.41), held strong belief in antibiotic effectiveness (Mean = 10.29, SD = 2.71), and demonstrated a high perceived threat of AMR (Mean = 12.30, SD = 3.20). Four behavioural patterns regarding antibiotic use for URTIs were identified, namely, "antibiotic self-medicators" (n = 165, 20.25%), "formal health care seekers" (n = 216, 26.50%), "various treatment users" (n = 198, 24.20%), and "self-medication without antibiotics" (n = 236, 28.96%). Individuals' self-efficacy of antibiotic use, belief in antibiotic effectiveness, awareness of antibiotic side effects, perceived antibiotic availability, social influence, and demographics (age, education, medical insurance, and having a medical background) were significantly associated with the public's different behavioural patterns of antibiotic use for URTIs.

Conclusion

This study calls for collaborative efforts among the public, physicians, policy makers, and the implementation of precise and multifaceted interventions to effectively reduce irrational use of antibiotics in the public. Such interventions include identifying subgroups within the public to provide more targeted education about antibiotics and the management of URTIs, reinforcing the regulation of antibiotic dispensing, and improving physicians' rational antibiotic prescriptions.

Knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding antimicrobial use and resistance among healthcare seekers in two tertiary hospitals in Ghana: a quasi-experimental study

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate knowledge of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), to study how the judgement of health value (HVJ) and economic value (EVJ) affects antibiotic use, and to understand if access to information on AMR implications may influence perceived AMR mitigation strategies.

DESIGN

A quasi-experimental study with interviews performed before and after an intervention where hospital staff collected data and provided one group of participants with information about the health and economic implications of antibiotic use and resistance compared with a control group not receiving the intervention.

SETTING

Korle-Bu and Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospitals, Ghana.

PARTICIPANTS

Adult patients aged 18 years and older seeking outpatient care.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

We measured three outcomes: (1) level of knowledge of the health and economic implications of AMR; (2) HVJ and EVJ behaviours influencing antibiotic use and (3) differences in perceived AMR mitigation strategy between participants exposed and not exposed to the intervention.

RESULTS

Most participants had a general knowledge of the health and economic implications of antibiotic use and AMR. Nonetheless, a sizeable proportion disagreed or disagreed to some extent that AMR may lead to reduced productivity/indirect costs (71% (95% CI 66% to 76%)), increased provider costs (87% (95% CI 84% to 91%)) and costs for carers of AMR patients/societal costs (59% (95% CI 53% to 64%)). Both HVJ-driven and EVJ-driven behaviours influenced antibiotic use, but the latter was a better predictor (reliability coefficient >0.87). Compared with the unexposed group, participants exposed to the intervention were more likely to recommend restrictive access to antibiotics (p<0.01) and pay slightly more for a health treatment strategy to reduce their risk of AMR (p<0.01).

CONCLUSION

There is a knowledge gap about antibiotic use and the implications of AMR. Access to AMR information at the point of care could be a successful way to mitigate the prevalence and implications of AMR.

Analysis on the Impact and Management of Political Education of College Students in the Micro Era Environment

With the rapid development of modern society and the popularization of information equipment, information transmission has broken the time and space constraints, and political education (PE) can be carried out anytime and anywhere. Micro media is the product of the rapid development of science and technology, which has brought us into a new "micro era." The research on the "micro era" has been the focus of academic attention in recent years. Especially with the popularization of micro media, its influence on people is becoming deeper, making more scholars in academic circles devote themselves to the "micro era" under study. However, while micro media is widely used by college students (CS), it also brings opportunities and challenges. Therefore, it is particularly important to clarify the opportunities and challenges faced by CS' PE under the background of the "micro era" and put forward practical countermeasures. Starting from the actual situation of PE communication in the micro era, this study analyzes the opportunities and challenges brought by the "micro era" to PE of CS through a questionnaire survey. Then, the effective strategies to improve the PE of CS are explored, in order to improve the ideological and political level of CS in the micro era.