Evaluating the impact of a Lao language mobile phone antimicrobial use guideline application on antimicrobial prescribing in Laos

Antimicrobial resistance is a public health concern in Laos. We would like to know whether a mobile phone app with guidelines on the use of antimicrobials written in Lao, will improve doctors’ prescribing behaviour in six hospitals in Laos.

We will divide our time into two phases. First, six hospitals in Laos will have a guidelines handbook and training. Eight months later, two hospitals will be randomly selected to have a mobile phone app with guidelines, then every eight months another hospital pair will receive the app. Over 24 months, we will visit all six hospitals every four months to record the effect on antimicrobial prescribing and the cost to the hospital. We will then present our findings.

We hope to be able to find out whether the mobile app improves the doctors’ approach to the prescribing of antimicrobials.