Assessment of senior medical care majors’ knowledge in antimicrobial chemotherapy

Abstract

Introduction: The resistance of microorganisms to antimicrobials has been gradually increasing since 2011 and is now recognized by the World Health Organization as a global biological threat. Causes of antimicrobial resistance must be actively addressed. Healthcare workers’ awareness of rational antimicrobial prescribing practices is of great importance. The increasing relevance of this issue is considered within this study, which started in 2014. Materials and methods: The article represents the results of anonymous prospective surveys within the framework of the KANT multi-centered research project aimed at assessing students’ knowledge of rational antimicrobial prescribing practices also known as “antimicrobial stewardship”. The survey involved 309 Medical Care majors in their fifth- and sixth- years in two Russian regional centers: Belgorod and Voronezh. The answers to four main questions of the survey were analyzed in this work. Results and discussion: According to the survey, 51.5% of the respondents properly identified a pharmacological group of an antimicrobial; 79.3% of the students would change an antibiotic if the desired therapeutic outcome was not achieved within two or three days of treatment; 29.8% of the students believed that an antimicrobial substitution was required even when a positive therapeutic outcome was achieved; and nobody could correctly identify all the proposed pharmacologically irrational combinations of antimicrobials. Conclusions: The survey showed that senior medical students have insufficient knowledge in antimicrobial stewardship. Appropriate use of antibiotics and antimicrobial prescribing practices need to be considered more thoroughly in Pharmacology, Clinical Pharmacology and Medical Care curricula. Likewise, educational activities on antimicrobial stewardship and best prescribing practices are of great importance for students as they will help with improving the knowledge of future doctors.