'Struggling to be a defender of health' -a qualitative study on the pharmacists' perceptions of their role in antibiotic consumption and antibiotic resistance in Romania

Background Antibiotic resistance is a serious global public health problem directly correlated to high antibiotic consumption. Romania is one of the European countries with the highest rates of antibiotic consumption, non-prescription antibiotics use and resistance of several pathogens to antibiotics. Pharmacists are an important stakeholder in respect to antibiotic management and context specific research on this topic is needed. The aim of the research is to increase the understanding of how community pharmacists in Romania perceive their roles in respect to antibiotic consumption and antibiotic resistance. Semi-structured interviews with 18 pharmacists were conducted to explore the perceptions and attitudes of pharmacists towards their roles on antibiotics consumption and antibiotic resistance. Manifest and latent qualitative content analysis was used to analyse interview transcripts.