Emerging causes for antibiotic resistance: Second-year medical undergraduate's perspective: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background:The rapid emergence of resistant bacteria is occurring worldwide, endangering the efficacy of antibiotics. So medical students, who are future doctors, should be prepared to use antimicrobials appropriately and will be important partners in antimicrobial stewardship. Aims and Objectives: This study aims to investigate second-year medical student's perception of emerging cause for antibiotic resistance (AR) and to bring awareness in them. Materials and Methods: A survey, containing 10 questions, on medical student's perception towards factors causing AR was distributed within second-year medical students of Adichunchanagiri Institute of Medical Sciences, B.G. Nagar. Valid responses were obtained from 139 students out of 142 students. Results were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software and expressed in percentages. Results: Out of 142 students, 97.89% responded. 58.99% of participants said that most important cause for AR was by mutational change in microorganism due to indiscriminate usage. Other important cause cited by students were unnecessary use of antibiotics for self-limited infections (49.64%); mutational change in pathogens (58.99%); lack of policy to restrict the antibiotic use (52.52%); use of antibiotic to rear animals used for consumption (48.92%); and use of antibiotic for more than prescribed duration (47.48%). Conclusion: Although the medical students have a appreciable knowledge of the risk factors contributing to rapid development AR by prescribing antibiotics irrationally as a future physicians. However, they do need more education about this global problem, and therefore an immediate need to address it repeatedly during their medical training with an effective education on antibiotic prescription and AR by incorporating appropriate medical teaching strategies.