Knowledge, attitude, and practices associated with the diagnosis and management of skin and soft-tissue infections among medical students, residents, and attending physicians

Abstract

Skin and soft-tissue infections (SSTIs) are commonly encountered by medical students, residents, and trainees. The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) has updated its recommendations regarding SSTI diagnosis and management in June 2014. We assessed knowledge, attitude, and practices toward diagnosis and management of SSTIs using an online survey. We disseminated the survey to medical students, residents, and attending physicians practicing in family and internal medicine department at a university-based hospital. A total of 103 surveys were completed out of 121 sent (85.1%) between July 2015 and March 2016. There were nine medical questions in the survey. The mean of correct answers was 4.5/9 ± 2.0. Medical knowledge correlated with the level of education (P < 0.001) but not with subspecialty (P = 0.97). Around 35% were familiar with the updated IDSA guidelines pertaining to SSTIs. The majority (85%) responded that the hospital staff would benefit from additional training and 75% agreed that more antibiotic stewardship education is needed. Our study shows that there are significant opportunities for development among students and physicians who encounter SSTIs.

Knowledge, Attitudes and Perceptions of Medical Students on Antimicrobial Stewardship

“…The oldest study was conducted in 2012 and the latest in 2020. We also included 10 multidisciplinary studies ( Table 2 ) that incorporated medical, pharmacy, dental, veterinary students, medical interns and physicians [ 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ].…”

“…This finding implicates the importance of guidelines in undergraduate medical education in the early stage of the curricula. In any case, in all studies, medical students would appreciate more education in both basic science as well as clinical grounds so that they feel better prepared in their future tasks of everyday clinical practice [ 10 , 12 , 16 , 18 , 19 , 22 , 31 , 35 , 36 , 39 ]. It is of interest to note that, overall, following the WHO Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance [ 11 ], medical education about AMS might be essentially different in individual countries.…”

“…Another interesting point is that a large percentage of medical students lack confidence and preparedness referred to antibiotic prescription [ 20 , 34 , 35 ]. This can correlate with each country’s AMR status, where students in countries with low resistance rates tend to feel more prepared, possibly because they are less exposed to severe infectious clinical challenges [ 36 ]. On the other hand, evidence exists that overconfidence in the field had a negative impact on antibiotic prescription [ 22 , 35 ].…”

“…With all above-mentioned issues, we understand the need to enhance medical education towards AMS. The majority of students worldwide consider traditional lectures and passive learning tools ineffective methods or an unsuccessful way of promoting knowledge on antibiotics and AMS [ 11 , 21 , 36 , 41 ]. Therefore, a more practical approach such as discussion of clinical scenarios and presence in clinical practice (e.g., clinical placements, clinical rotations [ 12 , 16 , 38 ]) seems to have a positive effect on knowledge of and attitude toward antibiotic usage and administration [ 20 , 35 ].…”

Optimization of Antibiotic Selection in the Emergency Department for Adult Skin and Soft Tissue Infections

“…Beatty et al showed 34.4% of the physicians and medical students were familiar with SSTI diagnosis and management as described in the IDSA guidelines. 8 Kessler et al found 15.7% of physicians aware of SSTI MRSA prevalence and 69.7% would use an antibiotic with MRSA coverage. 9 Szczypinska et al demonstrated antibiotic selection was based on strong physician preference of one antibiotic regimen over another.…”