OBJECTIVES: To develop and validate the Information leaflet on Antimicrobial Stewardship Program for Community Pharmacies.

METHODS: The clinical pharmacist developed a Information leaflet on Antimicrobial Stewardship Program (ASP) with the help of mainly information sources from Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC), Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), World Health Organization (WHO) and other relevant internet sources. A cross sectional survey was conducted by the clinical pharmacist over period of 4 months to validate the Information leaflet with the help of healthcare and non-healthcare professionals. Quality information was assessed by using the Ensuring Quality Information for Patients (EQIP) questionnaire and PMOSE/IKIRSCH formula was used to measure the readability and complexity. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize responses of the study participants with mean and standard deviation.

RESULTS: A total of 60 healthcare and non-healthcare professionals were approached. Among them 53 participants validated the information leaflet for ASP. The compatibility was low and proficiency level was level-2, which signifies understanding capability in people having high school as educational background. Majority (>90%) of the validator’s response to the information leaflet were found to be acceptable. The highest possible score was awarded for "respectful tone" as one of the EQIP criteria (99%). However other factors such as reader's space (72.5%), date of information leaflet generated (71%), details of additional sources of information (70%), and mentioning of drug generic or brand names (50.1%) were not taken into consideration (62%).

CONCLUSIONS: The information leaflet was found to be relevant, simple, informative and clear to the community pharmacists for providing better patient care. Yet, there is a necessity to update the leaflet over a period according to the recent literature.