Troy Beer*, NPS MedicineWise, Sydney, Australia Anthony Carr, NPS MedicineWise, Sydney, Australia Phillipa Binns, NPS MedicineWise, Sydney, Australia Stephanie Childs, NPS MedicineWise, Sydney, Australia Rachel Holbrook, NPS MedicineWise, Sydney, Australia Danielle Stowasser, NPS MedicineWise, Sydney, Australia Track: Practice Presentation Topic: Building virtual communities and social networking applications for patients and consumers Presentation Type: Rapid-Fire Presentation Submission Type: Single Presentation Building: Mermaid Room: Room 1 - Newgate Date: 2013-09-23 02:00 PM – 03:30 PM Last modified: 2013-09-25

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Background: In 2012, NPS MedicineWise launched a five year campaign directed at health professionals and the public addressing the problem of antimicrobial resistance. The development of antimicrobial resistance is directly related to levels of antibiotic use. We know pressure from patients is a strong predictor of a doctor’s decision to prescribe antibiotics in the community setting. Changing patient misconceptions about antibiotics can contribute to more appropriate prescribing and use.

The public component of the campaign, launched in April 2012, called on Australians to become ‘Antibiotic Resistance Fighters’ with a call to action to ‘join the fight’ on the NPS MedicineWise Facebook page. Previous programs and campaigns had focused on driving people to the NPS or a campaign-based website to engage and deliver information. For this campaign we wanted a measurable online action to reinforce the idea that individuals could collectively make a difference.

Facebook was selected as an appropriate channel to engage the key target groups (primarily mothers with young children and older women) within the available budget. The platform's interactive and ‘share with friends’ functionality provided a familiar and convenient environment for people to take action and influence friends. It also provided a means to maintain ongoing contact following completion of the initial media campaign.

Objective: The public program objective was to engage 35,000 Australians with the key messages and to take action to become ‘resistance fighters’. This annual target equates to the 5% reduction in inappropriate antibiotic usage we were seeking in our first year in concordance with international benchmarks.

The presentation will discuss the successes and challenges in developing the NPS MedicineWise Facebook page as a hub for a broad campaign that included; television and Facebook advertising, an online competition, celebrity endorsement, YouTube videos, editorial media, and an Antibiotic Resistance iPhone App.

Outcomes: Over 25,000 people liked the Facebook page as part of the call to ‘join the fight against antibiotics resistance’ in the first four month phase. There were 15,000 user contributions (ie. comments, shares) on Facebook during this same period. Antibiotic related YouTube videos were viewed over 2,800 times. NPS MedicineWise related media hits increased more than 250%. A 5 to 18% improvement in knowledge and beliefs about three key antibiotic messages (the basis of Resistance Fighter messaging) was found in pre and post online surveys of over 1000 respondents. For those that recalled the campaign the improvement ranged from 10 to 23%.

Conclusions: Facebook was a successful platform for sharing key messages with the target audience and resulted in a large number of people engaging with the campaign.
Points discussed include; alignment of social metrics with the broader program goals; the type of content, advertising and channels that most effectively drove Facebook traffic and maintaining ongoing engagement following completion of the initial campaign. Changes in attitudes and behaviours, and the long term impact on antibiotic use, will be further evaluated through the analysis of Australian prescribing data as well as health professional and consumer surveys.