Knowledge and perceptions about antibiotic resistance and prudent antibiotic prescribing among final year medical students in two African countries

Abstract

Objectives The objectives of this study were to assess the knowledge and perceptions of final year medical students about antibiotic resistance and antibiotic use to assist in the development of an antibiotic stewardship curriculum for teaching medical students in South Africa and Nigeria and the principles of prudent antibiotic prescribing. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the knowledge and perceptions of final year medical students in one South African and three Nigerian universities about prudent antibiotic use, antibiotic resistance and antibiotic stewardship. A 26-item questionnaire was administered electronically to students in three medical schools and a paper-based copy in the fourth. Key findings A difference in the gap in knowledge between the two countries was identified; however, respondents from both countries had a similar understanding of antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance. Most respondents in South Africa (94.8%) and Nigeria (91.4%) agreed that antibiotics are overused in their countries. There was a significant difference between the number of respondents in the two countries who thought that there are new antibiotics available to treat resistant pathogens; 45.4% of Nigerian respondents agreed with the statement as compared to 9.6% of the South African respondents. Of the 10 vignettes answered correctly, South African respondents scored an average of 62.4% in the knowledge segment compared to 31.9% scored by the Nigerian respondents (P = 0.001). All of the South African (100%) and 98.3% of the Nigerian respondents indicated their desire for more education on appropriate antibiotic use. Conclusions Although students from both countries had the same perception of antibiotic resistance, there was, however, a difference in their level of knowledge, which could have been improved in both countries. This should be addressed at an undergraduate curriculum level; as well as with continued education to reinforce antibiotic knowledge.

Evaluation of Healthcare Students’ Knowledge on Antibiotic Use, Antimicrobial Resistance and Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs and Associated Factors in a Tertiary University in Ghana: Findings and Implications

“…Encouragingly, there was a good overall level of knowledge regarding antibiotics among most of the healthcare students at the University of Health and Allied Sciences in Ghana, which is similar to some studies conducted among students in LMICs [ 53 , 54 , 58 , 59 ]. However, this is different from other studies conducted among students in LMICs where there have been concerns with their knowledge [ 46 , 55 , 56 , 64 , 82 , 83 ].…”

“…However, most studies particularly in LMICs that have evaluated the knowledge of healthcare students regarding antibiotics and AMR have typically been conducted separately among medical students [ 47 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 ], pharmacy students [ 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 ], nursing and paramedic students with only a limited number of studies conducted among a combination of healthcare students [ 48 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 ]. This is a concern as a good uniform knowledge regarding antibiotic use, AMR, and ASPs is essential to optimize the future use of antimicrobials with all key stakeholders involved, which is in line with the goals of the Ghanaian NAP and beyond [ 30 , 32 ].…”

Understanding of Future Prescribers About Antimicrobial Resistance and Their Preparedness Towards Antimicrobial Stewardship Activities in Pakistan: Findings and Implications

“…Medical students need to learn how to prescribe drugs safely and effectively because once graduating and licensed to practice as medical practitioners, they will indeed be prescribing medication daily with minimal supervision ( Van Der Voort et al, 2019 ; Augie et al, 2021 ). Strong prescribing skill sets can facilitate rational and judicial prescribing, which improves patient benefits, medication compliance, and limit healthcare-associated costs ( Essack et al, 2019 ).…”

Understanding of Final Year Medical, Pharmacy and Nursing Students in Pakistan towards Antibiotic Use, Antimicrobial Resistance and Stewardship: Findings and Implications

“…We believe that this is the first paper in Pakistan that has evaluated the different perspectives of antibiotic use, AMR and ASPs among future medical doctors, pharmacists and nurses among both public and private sector institutions in Pakistan. We are aware that studies have been published with different student cohorts across LMICs including Pakistan; however, we are unaware of any studies that have combined all three key student populations among both public and private universities in LMICs [69,70,[72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83]. This is increasingly important, with multidisciplinary teams being key to improving future antibiotic prescribing as part of ASPs [27].…”