Research Proposal Sample – Antibiotic Resistance

Introduction

Antibiotic resistance is one of the major threats to modern medical practices, as medical practices rely upon the convenience of antimicrobial drugs that can treat and prevent infections in animals and humans. Each year there are more than 2 million people who acquire bacterial infections that may develop resistance to two or more antibiotics that are designed to kill these infections (Mykietiuk et al, 2006). According to studies, approximately 24,000 people die each year due to this antibiotic resistance infection, and also many dies due to complications which develop due to theses antibiotic resistance infection (Mykietiuk et al, 2006). This antibiotic resistance has attributed to the misuse or overuse of these drugs, in addition to this, there is also a lack of development of new drugs by pharmaceutical companies because of challenging regulatory requirements and also because of less economic incentives.

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This research aims to describe the role of broad spectrum antibiotics on fighting with this antibiotic resistance. Broad spectrum antibiotics are used to treat infections that are resistance to narrow spectrum antibiotic or top the infection which does not respond to other drugs. Broad spectrum antibiotics are active against both gram negative and gram positive organisms, these drugs include fluoroquinolones, tetracycline, cephalosporin, and phenols. The antibiotics are not only used to treat infectious diseases but also undermine the treatment of the complications which may occur due to these infections. In advance, medical treatment such as chemotherapy for cancer patients, joint replacement procedures, kidney dialysis, and other chronic disease requires the effective antibiotics to fight against the resistant infections.

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Background of the study

Modern medical practice largely depends on the use of an antibiotic. Development of antibiotic resistance can lead to a number of complications that needs assessment and proper evaluation. As with the advent of modified forms of antibiotics, infections are also modified to develop resistance to these antibiotics (Landecker 2015). Penicillin was first prescribed to treat infections during Second World War, after sometimes resistance against penicillin developed for which there was the advent of Beta- Lactam antibiotics, and so on with the development of one drug there was also the development of resistance against it for which new drugs should be introduced. Antibiotic resistance mainly develops due to overuse or misuse of drugs. Therefore, there is a need of proper guidance for health care practitioners before prescribing any antibiotic to their patients. Lewis (2013) poured some light on the discovery of antibiotics. According to this study, the golden era of discovery of antibiotics was the 1940s to 1960s. Also, it focuses on the spread of new bacteria which can develop resistance to these antibiotics, so far Beta-Lactams are the most successful intervention in medical history that can help to deal with the chronic infections and also with the resistance which develops against the antibiotics.

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Ventola (2015) lightened the history of antibiotic resistance and also the factors which cause this resistant. According to this study, the crisis of antibiotic resistance is a global issue, which needs proper assessment. It focuses on the need of development of new drugs that can help to deal with antibiotic-resistant infections. There are seven main factors that should be evaluated: availability of antibiotic, transmissibility, clinical impact, incidence, economic impact, and also to barriers to prevent the disease. Resistance Microbes including the antimicrobial drugs are moving their attention into wide range of reservoirs such as flora, human, fauna, environment etc. These reservoir are becoming the tenacious substrate for microbes to start breeding and also spread widely through variety of different factors. Unfortunately the emergence of a superbugs that are also knowns as strains of bacteria that has an ability to resist more than one type of antibiotic. This has increased the number of people who are killed each year because of the development of resistance against a drug or due to the complication which may occur because of this antibiotic resistant infection. In order to treat the superinfections, the broad spectrum antibiotic is very useful, as this spectrum of drugs allows to begin the treatment without identifying the bacteria.

Purpose of the research

The purpose of this research is to describe the importance of the impact of Broad spectrum antibiotics to fight with the antibiotic resistance. It also focuses the attention of the practitioners to design a drug that is more compatible to kill antibiotic-resistant infections.

Research Aim

The aim of this research is to investigate the impact of the broad-spectrum drug to fight Antibiotic resistance.

Research Objectives

For the attainment of the aim of the research the objectives are as follow:

  • To determine the importance of using broad spectrum drugs.
  • To explain the categorization of the antibiotics
  • To determine the approach through which broad spectrum drug is helping to fight against antibiotic-resistant

Research Questions

  • What is the importance of broad spectrum drug in fighting bacterial resistance?
  • How broad spectrum drug helps in combating antibiotic-resistant infections?

Hypothesis

 There is a significant positive relationship between broad spectrum antibiotics to fight against antibiotic resistance.

H1: There is an insignificant positive relationship between broad spectrum antibiotics to fight against antibiotic resistance.

H0: There is a significant negative relationship between broad spectrum antibiotics to fight against antibiotic resistance.

H1: There is an insignificant negative relationship between broad spectrum antibiotics to fight against antibiotic resistance.

Literature Review

Theoretical and empirical studies have explained the emergence of resistance to antibiotics, it is a matter of global consideration as it affects not only the hospitals but also to the whole community.  There are various factors that can results in development of antibiotic resistance such as overuse or misuse of the antibiotics, hospitals are one of the vulnerable place which has high concentration of ill patients that can develop antimicrobial resistance in very short period of time. In order to reduce the antibiotic resistance there are two different approaches which can be adopted, one is switching to other drug and second is reducing the use of that antibiotic.

Studies draw the attention towards the action of peptides that have broad spectrum activity against some virus, bacteria, parasites and fungi (Barbosa and Levy, 2000). To overcome this challenges there is a need for designing the drug that can optimize the activity of drug-resistant infections. There are different types of broad spectrum peptides that are designed to combat this antimicrobial resistance, such as bovine neutrophil cationic peptide is one of the smallest occurring broad-spectrum peptides, it works by the internal disulfide bridge and has activity against gram-negative bacteria (Cherkasov et al, 2009).

Despite this research, pharmaceutical companies should focus more on developing other drugs that can help in combating against the antibiotic resistance. Evidence have shown that there is the positive impact of drugs that has an antimicrobial effect (Payne et al, 2006).

Patel (2011) also highlighted the understanding and responding to an emergency crisis for antibiotic resistance. It shows that the modern medical practice is in constant need for the development of substrate that has an ability to combat against this antibiotic resistance. It is mainly because the bacterial species readily develop resistant against one type of drug and may not respond to its substitutes. This shows advancement in pharmaceutical companies is required to generate new peptides, amino acid, or cellulose substrates that have an ability to break the disulfide bridge of virus or bacteria. Reffuveille et al (2014), according to this research there are at least 65% of chances to develop biofilm infections. The alarming stage for this biofilm infection is that they are highly resistant to conventional antibiotics, there is various broad spectrum antibiotic which works on the synergetic action with other drugs to combat against these antibiotic resistant infections(Rodríguez, 2009).. This anti-biofilm peptide has a synergistic action with broad spectrum antibiotic which includes ciprofloxacin, imipenem, ceftazidime, or tobramycin. Theses evidence have shown the importance of designing the broad spectrum drug to fight against antibiotic resistance.

How we get broad spectrum antibiotics

Antibiotics are made by undergoing a process of testing in a laboratory. Firstly, antibiotic microbes are allowed to grow in the flasks, which are then transferred into large fermentation vats. After this process, the antibiotic is extracted from the microbe culture and then finally gets purified

Monitoring activities Against Antibiotic Resistance Bacteria

To check the activities of broad spectrum drug against antibiotic-resistant infections. Researchers have developed different methods such as using different culture that show the activity of the drug against infection, using peptides such as silver nanoparticles that show the activity of the drug against resistant infection by reducing the growth rate of bacteria. Moreover, Kirby-Bauer test is also used to track the bactericidal action against the microorganisms (Lara et al. 2009).

Methodology

Overview of selected Methodology

Approach:Deductive
Methods:Mixed method (qualitative and quantitative)
Instrument:Survey questionnaire and observations
Sample Size:350 practitioners from 7 hospitals (for questionnaire) and patients of 21 to 50 years for observation

Research Approaches

Mainly there are two types of research approach, one is deductive and another is inductive. The deductive approach aims to specify the general idea. However inductive approach is about generalizing the specific idea. In a deductive approach the premises are limited as a researcher is not allowed to deviate from the specific concept and obligated to cater research gap and present an original conclusion. In an inductive approach, known premises are used and the author is free from restrictions that are why the research findings can be generalized. Our research is deductive in nature as it focuses on the statistical sampling method.

Research Methods

Qualitative and quantitative are the two research methods that are most commonly used by the researchers. The third method is known as the mixed research method. Quantitative method refers top in-depth analysis of the gathered data that is collected from diverse data collection. In this method statistical tools are used to interpret data and make conclusion, However, in qualitative research method inquiries are conducted on already available data for making logical conclusions. In this research mixed approach will be used to overcome the weakness of each method and also to gather a wider range of data and draw a sensible and authentic conclusion.

Data collection methods

For the attainment of the objective of research the data will be gathered from both primary and secondary sources.

  • Primary data collection

Aim of the primary data collection method is to collect the current data on the specified issue. For gathering the primary data, observation will be done by considering patients’ health. Once the approval will be gathered from different hospitals, the subjects will be provided survey questionnaires. The quantitative data will be gathered through survey questioners that will be based on Likert scale. In addition to it, qualitative data will be collected by using the instrument of observations, in terms of finding the reports of various hospitals.

  • Secondary data collection

The purpose of the secondary data is to draw a conclusion based on the already existing material. For data gathering, secondary sources that will be used includes literature reviews, general articles, new articles, blogs, and websites.

Sample size

For any research, it is essential to decide on the sample size of the research. For this research, it has been decided that the primary data will be gathered through survey questioners and approximately 350 practitioners from 7 hospitals will be surveyed. However, qualitative research will be done by observation. Survey questionnaires will be distributed physically in 7 hospitals. Also in our research, we will be using probability sampling method in which simple random sampling is selected for collection of data.

The observation will be done by setting the inclusion criterion on the subjects of adults patients aged under 21 to 50 years for knowing about the best antibiotic against infection. Nevertheless, the older population is much required for the research group, as this will significantly bring the outcomes for covering viral illnesses, which will eventually give the rationale of antibiotic resistance. The rationale for choosing this sample size is because of less number of hospitals in the available location and also because of ineffective distribution of time of the practitioners.

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