| Acceptance rate | 46% |
|---|---|
| Time to first decision | 6 months* |
| Time to decision with review | 50 days* |
*Approximate number of days
**The days mentioned above are averages and do not indicate exact durations. The process may vary for each article.
ACTA Pharmaceutica Sciencia
2025 , Vol 63 , Num 2
Healthcare professionals' familiarity, perceptions, attitudes, and obstacles towards the use of prebiotics and probiotics
1 Mosul University, College of Pharmacy, Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, Mosul, Iraq2 Mosul University, College of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutics, Mosul, Iraq
3 Rutgers University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Nutritional Sciences, New Jersey, USA
DOI : 10.23893/1307-2080.APS6322 Viewed : 88 - Downloaded : 23 Objective: This study aimed to investigate healthcare providers" (HCPs) knowledge and practice toward probiotics. Method: This cross-sectional study involved 294 randomly targeted pharmacists, physicians, and dentists in different health care settings (Mosul/Iraq) using an online questionnaire forum from April 2023 to July 2023. The questionnaire was divided into four main branches; demographic characteristics, familiarity, and experience, probiotic use perception and barriers against prescribing probiotics. Results: The majority (92.9%) of participants were aware of the definition of probiotics, over 77% were mindful of probiotics gastrointestinal health-effectiveness while 33.3% were aware of their dental usefulness. Around 26.8% indicated they would recommend probiotics to their patients, 4.0% refused to advise patients of using probiotics and 7.8% preferred to prescribe antibiotics over probiotics. The main reason of not prescribing probiotics was unfamiliarity with the availability of probiotics products (22.1%). The majority of HCPs (72.4%) showed their interest in broadening their knowledge about pre- and probiotics. Conclusion: This study showed that participants have insufficient knowledge to make them confident of prescribing probiotics. Tutoring HCPs regarding the use of probiotics is substantial to boost patients" wellbeing. Keywords : probiotics, prebiotics, healthcare, prescriptions