| Submission to first decision
(The average time from manuscript submission to desk rejection, direct rejection/acceptance or assignment to the first editor) Note: For manuscripts that fully comply with the journal template. However, this timeframe does not apply to manuscripts with formatting or guideline deficiencies. If a manuscript is returned to the authors for corrections, the administrative review process will restart from the re-submission date. |
3 weeks |
|---|---|
| Submission to decision after review (For papers that are sent to review, the average time from submission to receipt of first editor decision) | 6 weeks |
| Submission to final decision (The average time from manuscript submission to the final editorial decision) | 16 weeks |
| Submission to publication (The average time from acceptance to publication. Manuscript published in early view are also included in this calculation) | 24 weeks |
ACTA Pharmaceutica Sciencia
2025 , Vol 63 , Num 2
Healthcare professionals' familiarity, perceptions, attitudes, and obstacles towards the use of prebiotics and probiotics
1 Mosul University, College of Pharmacy, Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, Mosul, Iraq2 Mosul University, College of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutics, Mosul, Iraq
3 Rutgers University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Nutritional Sciences, New Jersey, USA
DOI : 10.23893/1307-2080.APS6322 Viewed : 2996 - Downloaded : 1242 Objective: This study aimed to investigate healthcare providers" (HCPs) knowledge and practice toward probiotics. Method: This cross-sectional study involved 294 randomly targeted pharmacists, physicians, and dentists in different health care settings (Mosul/Iraq) using an online questionnaire forum from April 2023 to July 2023. The questionnaire was divided into four main branches; demographic characteristics, familiarity, and experience, probiotic use perception and barriers against prescribing probiotics. Results: The majority (92.9%) of participants were aware of the definition of probiotics, over 77% were mindful of probiotics gastrointestinal health-effectiveness while 33.3% were aware of their dental usefulness. Around 26.8% indicated they would recommend probiotics to their patients, 4.0% refused to advise patients of using probiotics and 7.8% preferred to prescribe antibiotics over probiotics. The main reason of not prescribing probiotics was unfamiliarity with the availability of probiotics products (22.1%). The majority of HCPs (72.4%) showed their interest in broadening their knowledge about pre- and probiotics. Conclusion: This study showed that participants have insufficient knowledge to make them confident of prescribing probiotics. Tutoring HCPs regarding the use of probiotics is substantial to boost patients" wellbeing. Keywords : probiotics, prebiotics, healthcare, prescriptions