Table 2 Veterinary technicians’ perceptions on antibiotic use and antimicrobial stewardship in the veterinary profession

Antibiotic use in the veterinary profession

Antibiotic use is generally responsible (n = 15)

“The practices I’ve worked at have been really responsible with their medical policies and protocols […] and they make sure they do their due diligence.”

Antibiotic use is generally irresponsible (n = 13)

“I think we don’t have a great handle on how often they’re being used, and I think they’re being used a lot more frequently than they really truly need to be. I think that there’s just a lack of education about why we maybe shouldn’t be using all of these antibiotics all the time.”

Antibiotic use is becoming more responsible (n = 5)

“So I feel like when I was first started out, antibiotics were given much more than they are now. […] [I] think they are beginning to be not as excessive. I feel like before they were excessive and now they’re starting to I don’t know if it’s teaching differently or not, but I feel like they’re starting to give them appropriately”.

Examples of inappropriate prescribing

Prescribing antibiotics when other treatments or no treatment would suffice

“We see a lot of patients with subclinical UTIs where they ran a UA because it’s part of their […] general wellness and then somebody starts them on an antibiotic despite them not having any clinical signs of an infection. And we’re finding that there’s really no reason to treat those guys unless they’re showing signs, but we see that every single day.”

Prescribing to accommodate clients’ demands or finances

“Sometimes I do feel that they’re being prescribed only to make the client happy. To appease the client. Especially with covid and the clients have been more angry at a base level. You know so maybe they don’t have the money to do a urinalysis. But you know what. They just want an antibiotic and I feel like sometimes I have seen veterinarians prescribe an antibiotic and say “Hey if it’s not better, you know, in three to five days or it’s not improving, give us a call back”, which I hate. Because we don’t hear back from those people, and then they get what they want and it’s not the right thing.”

Prescribing without appropriate diagnostics

“You’re using an antibiotic to treat something that you don’t have a diagnosis for. Kind of an assumed issue that, you know, sometimes you see are treated with an antibiotic plus or minus steroid just to see if it gets better. Sometimes that feels a little unnecessary if another step could be taken to get a diagnosis first.

Examples of how antimicrobial stewardship is practiced within clinical practices

Using antimicrobials only when indicated

“We [the veterinary clinic team] try to balance, and you know we talked about this a lot actually in our rounds with regards to antibiotics and even with other type of things, but specifically we really tried to you know prescribe what’s needed. But we don’t want to you know overkill and prescribe more often than needed.”

Using appropriate diagnostics

“Performing a culture to ensure that the goal that they’re trying to achieve is completed appropriately so really determining what bacteria is there before we go ahead and give the antibiotic that will work against it.”

Discussion how to improve antimicrobial use in general within the practice

“I’ve definitely overheard our vets explain the concept of stewardship without using those specific words to our students and I feel like when there are the referrals that we feel like haven’t been treated as appropriately as they could be the other nurses and I do get together and are like ‘they could have done this better’ and kind of discuss that how it could have been improved.”