Improving Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Among Medical Students in India: The Sensitization of Medical Students on Antimicrobial Resistance (SOS-AMR) Study

Abstract

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the impact of an online educational intervention on improving knowledge of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and stewardship among final-year medical students in Chennai, India. METHODS This was a prospective ‘before-after’ study conducted across 5 medical colleges in Chennai, India. Participants who were final-year (fourth year) undergraduate medical students were administered a pretest to evaluate baseline knowledge. Students were then provided access to online educational material comprising 20 short lectures. Lectures were delivered by content experts and covered a range of topics which included basics of microbiology, fundamental concepts in AMR and stewardship, diagnosis and management of common infections, basics of antimicrobial pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, and vaccination. Students were required to take a posttest at the end of these modules. Primary outcome was improvement in test scores from pretest baseline which was analyzed using a t test. A 30% improvement in the mean scores from baseline was predefined as a measure of success. RESULTS A total of 599 students participated from 5 medical colleges among whom 339 (56.6%) were female participants; 542 (90.4%) students completed the posttest. Mean pretest score was 11.6 (maximum possible score of 25) (SD: 4.3) and the mean posttest score was 14.0 (SD: 4.6). Comparing pre and posttest scores, there was an improvement of 2.4 marks (20%) from the baseline (95% confidence interval: 1.9, 2.9) ( P < .001). Improvement in scores was similar for male and female participants. CONCLUSIONS In this before-after study evaluating the impact of an educational intervention on AMR among final-year medical students, there was an improvement in knowledge; however, the extent of improvement did not meet the predefined metric of success.