Antibiotic Prescribing Practice in Pigs

Members are reminded of the following study conducted by the University of Liverpool into prescribing practices in the field and are encouraged to follow the link to fill in the information.

https://adobeformscentral.com/?f=yf5faxE0GifrTnjC*sPSXw

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Dear Colleague,

We would like to invite you to take part in a study of the use of antibiotics in pig practice in the UK. This is a national survey of all veterinary surgeons who see pigs that are kept as production animals as part of their caseload. We are asking individual veterinary surgeons to complete a questionnaire about antibiotic prescribing in pigs

Antibiotics are at the forefront of tackling infectious disease both in humans and animals, offering very effective ways of rapidly combating a wide range of pathogens. However, the rise in resistance, and lack of development of new compounds, is of concern to both human and animal health. Gaining in-depth insight and understanding into the influences behind antibiotic prescribing decisions is essential in maintaining the effectiveness of antibiotics for use in pigs as well as other veterinary sectors and human medicine.

Your participation in this study will help us to better understand antibiotic prescribing practices in pigs in the UK. This project is funded by the VMD and agreement for use has been obtained from the devolved administrations

The questionnaire consists of 4 sections. Section asks for information about yourself and your veterinary practice; section B considers your current antibiotic prescribing practices; section C covers your views on antibiotic prescribing and responsibility. Section D contains four scenarios. These questions explore the type of antibiotic you might prescribe to the animals described in the scenarios and the reasons behind the decision. There are no right or wrong answers to the scenario questions, their purpose is to gather information about when and what type of antibiotics clinicians use to treat pigs.

All responses and are completely confidential and will remain anonymous when reporting findings. The information that you provide will be maintained and analysed at the University of Liverpool and will not be made available to other parties. Participation in this study is entirely voluntary. The questionnaire should take approximately 20-30 minutes to complete. Once the study is completed we will make our findings available via PVS and they will also be reported through the veterinary literature in due course.

The study is being led by researchers at Liverpool University and Mr Richard Pearson, a partner at the George veterinary practice in Wiltshire who specialises in pig work. If you have any questions concerning this study please don’t hesitate to contact us by email at l.a.coyne@liv.ac.uk or phone at 01517946011.

Thank you for your time and interest in our project.

Yours Faithfully,
Lucy Coyne, Gina Pinchbeck, Sophia Latham, Nicola J Williams, Rob Smith, Susan Dawson
Department of Epidemiology and Population Health,University of Liverpool, Leahurst, Chester High Road, Neston, Cheshire, CH64 7TE