TY - JOUR
T1 - Nonprescription antibiotic therapy
T2 - Cultural models on both sides of the counter and both sides of the border
AU - Gartin, Meredith
AU - Slade, Alexandra
AU - Schwartz, Norah Anita
PY - 2010/3
Y1 - 2010/3
N2 - Antibiotic resistance is a global public health threat exacerbated bymedically unwarranted or improper antibiotic use. Pharmacy counters at the U.S.-Mexico border provide an example of where lay decisions to use antibiotics in ways considered "risky" may be initiated and negotiated. We test how cultural and public health knowledge of antibiotics is distributed among pharmacy staff, localMexican clients, and U.S. medical tourists in the bordertown of Nogales using a cultural consensus tool. We find that shared cultural models across these groups include public health statements; however, other shared statements are likely to reinforce antibiotic sales at pharmacy counters by those on both sides of the purchase as economic, rather than therapeutic, encounters. From a public health perspective, border pharmacy counters are not a location where increased "safe" knowledge about antibiotic use is being transmitted. However, we do find a positive relationship between "safe"knowledge and reductions in risky behavior.
AB - Antibiotic resistance is a global public health threat exacerbated bymedically unwarranted or improper antibiotic use. Pharmacy counters at the U.S.-Mexico border provide an example of where lay decisions to use antibiotics in ways considered "risky" may be initiated and negotiated. We test how cultural and public health knowledge of antibiotics is distributed among pharmacy staff, localMexican clients, and U.S. medical tourists in the bordertown of Nogales using a cultural consensus tool. We find that shared cultural models across these groups include public health statements; however, other shared statements are likely to reinforce antibiotic sales at pharmacy counters by those on both sides of the purchase as economic, rather than therapeutic, encounters. From a public health perspective, border pharmacy counters are not a location where increased "safe" knowledge about antibiotic use is being transmitted. However, we do find a positive relationship between "safe"knowledge and reductions in risky behavior.
KW - Antibiotics
KW - Cultural models
KW - Ethnopharmacology
KW - Mexico
KW - Self-medication
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77952308483&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=77952308483&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/j.1548-1387.2010.01086.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1548-1387.2010.01086.x
M3 - Article
C2 - 20420303
AN - SCOPUS:77952308483
SN - 0745-5194
VL - 24
SP - 85
EP - 107
JO - Medical Anthropology Quarterly
JF - Medical Anthropology Quarterly
IS - 1
ER -