Knowledge, Attitudes and Practice Regarding Antibiotic Prescription by Medical Interns: A Qualitative Study in Spain
Germán Molina-Romera,
Olalla Vazquez-Cancela,
Juan Manuel Vazquez-Lago,
Rodrigo Alonso Montes-Villalba,
Fátima Roque,
Maria Teresa Herdeiro,
Adolfo Figueiras
Affiliations
Germán Molina-Romera
Preventive Medicine and Public Health Department, University Hospital of Santiago de Compostela, 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Olalla Vazquez-Cancela
Preventive Medicine and Public Health Department, University Hospital of Santiago de Compostela, 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Juan Manuel Vazquez-Lago
Preventive Medicine and Public Health Department, University Hospital of Santiago de Compostela, 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Rodrigo Alonso Montes-Villalba
Preventive Medicine and Public Health Department, University Hospital of Santiago de Compostela, 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Fátima Roque
Research Unit for Inland Development, Guarda Polytechnic Institute (UDI-IPG), 6300 Guarda, Portugal
Maria Teresa Herdeiro
Department of Medical Sciences, iBiMED-Institute of Biomedicine, University of Aveiro, 3810 Aveiro, Portugal
Adolfo Figueiras
Consortium for Biomedical Research in Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBER en Epidemiología y Salud Pública/CIBERESP), 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Antibiotic resistance is an issue of growing importance in the public health sphere. Medical interns are of great relevance when it comes to the source of this problem. This study therefore sought to ascertain which factors influence the management of antibiotic therapy by this population, in order to pinpoint the possible causes of misprescribing habits. We conducted a qualitative study based on focus group techniques, with groups consisting of medical interns from the Santiago de Compostela Clinical University Teaching Hospital. Our study identified factors which the participants considered to be determinants of antibiotic use and their relationship with the appearance of resistance. The single most repeated factor was the influence of the attending physician’s judgement; other factors included a high healthcare burden or prescribing inertia. This stage is an opportunity to correct misprescribing habits, by implementing educational interventions aimed at modifying the identified factors.
