ReviewAntibiotics (Basel, Switzerland)2025
Barriers and Facilitators to Antimicrobial Stewardship in Antibiotic Prescribing and Dispensing by General Practitioners and Pharmacists in Malta: A Systematic Review.
Review in Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Good Practices and Challenges in the Collaboration of Pharmacists with General Practitioners-A Scoping Review.Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveAntimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a top ten threat to global public health, and Malta remains among the highest antibiotic-consuming countries in the European Union. This systematic review aimed to identify barriers and facilitators influencing antimicrobial stewardship in Malta, focusing on general practitioners (GPs) and pharmacists. METHODS AND MEASURES: Eligible studies included GPs and/or pharmacists practising in Malta and explored influences on prescribing and/or dispensing. Systematic searches were performed in June 2025 and September 2025 using the following databases MEDLINE, PsycINFO, PsycArticles PubMed, and Google Scholar. Data were extracted using a modified Cochrane template, and quality was assessed using Joanna Briggs Institute tools. Findings were synthesised using the socio-ecological model and mapped to the COM-B framework.
resultsSeven studies met inclusion criteria, with a total sample size of 495 participants. Barriers included diagnostic uncertainty, knowledge gaps, misconceptions about AMR, patient expectations, commercial pressures, limited diagnostic and IT infrastructure, and defensive prescribing linked to indemnity insurance. Facilitators included stewardship values, stronger guideline adherence among younger GPs, trust-based GP-patient relationships, GP-pharmacist collaboration, and intervention effects from a social marketing programme. Mapping to COM-B showed barriers and facilitators interacting across capability, opportunity, and motivation.
conclusionsPrescribing in Malta is shaped by diagnostic uncertainty, entrenched habits, patient expectations, and structural gaps. Although the evidence base was limited and partly overlapping, consistent findings across mixed method designs highlighted that effective stewardship will require rapid diagnostics, e-prescribing, over-the-counter enforcement, and GP-pharmacist collaboration, supported by policy reforms aligning indemnity and sick-leave systems with AMR goals.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.