Acquaintance and Awareness of Budding Physicians toward Antimicrobials' Use: Need of the Hour

Abstract

Background Development of new antibiotics has been slow in the past decades, despite the urgent need. Final-year undergraduate students, interns, and postgraduate students are future prescribers of antimicrobials. It is important they have proper knowledge and attitude toward antibiotic prescription, so that antibiotic resistance could be dealt wisely. Aims The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge and attitude of undergraduate, interns, and postgraduate medical students regarding antimicrobials, antibiotics resistance, and associated factors. Methodology A total of 150 final-year medical students, interns, and resident doctors were included, 50 in each group. Participants were contacted individually and were asked to fill a prevalidated questionnaire. Information was collected on three broad categories: basic information about antimicrobials, knowledge regarding treatment of common infections, and belief and attitude toward antimicrobials. Percentages were calculated for the categorical data and chi-squared test was used for univariate analysis of the categorical data, where p-value less than 0.05 was considered to be significant. Results Precisely, 80.67% were able to answer which type of infections need antibiotics; 19.33% responded that both viral and bacterial infections need antibiotics; 44.67% preferred using broad-spectrum antibiotics for definitive treatment; 28.66% answered macrolides as most commonly used for upper respiratory tract infection; 56% considered fluoroquinolones are most commonly used for urinary tract infection with p-value less than 0.05 between the groups; 43.33% were unaware of the infection control program; while 72.66% were unaware about the antibiotic policy in their institute. Conclusion The majority had sufficient basic knowledge about antibiotics, yet there were areas for concern. Study findings may help to formulate new learning objectives for medical students to inculcate proper knowledge and attitude toward antibiotic prescription.

Keywords

• antibiotic prescription
• antimicrobial resistance
• antibiotic policy
• medical students
• knowledge
• attitude and belief