Preparedness to prescribe antibiotics responsibly: a comparison between final year medical students in France and Sweden

Abstract

Students should graduate from medical school feeling prepared to prescribe antibiotics responsibly. We assessed self-reported preparedness among students at medical schools in Europe, and we focus here on the results from students in Sweden and France, countries with wide differences in the intensity of antibiotic consumption and burden of antibiotic resistance. We conducted a cross-sectional web-based survey in 2015, based on a comprehensive set of topics related to prudent antibiotic use. All final year students at a medical school in France or Sweden were eligible to participate. Preparedness scores were calculated for each student, and mean scores were compared at medical school and country levels. Comparisons were also made on availability of teaching methods. We received responses from 2085/7653 (response rate 27.2%) students from 31/34 eligible medical schools in France and 302/1124 (26.9%) students from 7/7 schools in Sweden. The relative ranking order of curriculum topics by preparedness level was consistent between countries, but students in Sweden had higher self-reported levels of preparedness in 21/27 topics. There was higher availability for eight of nine teaching methods at Swedish medical schools. Students in France were more likely to report a need for further education on antibiotic use (63.5% vs. 20.3%, p < 0.001). Final year students in France report lower levels of preparedness, less availability of teaching methods and higher needs for more education on antibiotic use. Furthermore, we have identified specific areas for improvement in education on prudent antibiotic use in both Sweden and France.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s10096-019-03494-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Self-perceived Preparedness to Prescribe Antibiotics Among Swiss Medical Students: Results from a Cross-sectional Survey in four Swiss Universities in 2015.

“…Possible explanations for these ndings include a difference in the quality of education provided in different countries, but also cultural factors related to self-con dence and preparedness feeling [6,11,17]. Cultural differences between French speaking and German speaking regions in Switzerland have been pointed out as one of the factors in uencing the disparities regarding use of antibiotics and rates of antimicrobial resistance among Swiss cantons [18][19][20].…”

“…This Student-PREPARE survey investigated self-reported preparedness on different topics about prudent antibiotic use and the perceived lack of education, and compared the results among the participating countries. Although some differences emerged across countries, most European students expressed a need for more education on antibiotic use [6,11,12]. In this manuscript we present an in-depth subgroup-analysis of the Swiss results of the survey.…”

“…Educating future prescribers in the appropriate use of antimicrobials early during medical studies seems a key intervention for improving antibiotic use in the medium and long term [3][4][5]. Undergraduate curricula usually include learning objectives regarding the diagnosis and treatment of infections and increasingly highlight also the risk of misuse of antimicrobials and the global concern of increasing AMR [3,6]. Despite these efforts, previous studies have shown that medical students do not feel well prepared to appropriately prescribe antimicrobials at the end of their studies [7][8][9][10].…”

Microbial Resistance Movements: An Overview of Global Public Health Threats Posed by Antimicrobial Resistance, and How Best to Counter

“…Likewise, another study found that French medical students demanded more educational training in prescribing than Swedish counterparts, and the final year French medical students' self-perceived readiness to prescribe an antibiotic after graduation was lower than their Swedish counterparts ( 312 ).…”

O Ensino de Gestão de Antimicrobianos em Escola Médica do Rio de Janeiro

“…André Ricardo Araujo da Silva et al https://doi.org/10.1590/1981-5271v43suplemento1-20190084 que mensuraram a carga horária 7 . A despeito da variabilidade da carga horária destinada a este tema, é possível que haja necessidade de melhor capacitação dos futuros médicos, como demonstrado por Dyar et al 13 . Esses autores avaliaram 2.085 estudantes de escolas médicas do último ano da França e Suécia a respeito de autoanálise e confiança para prescrição de antibióticos e evidenciaram que pouco mais de 63,5% dos estudantes franceses e 20,3% dos estudantes suecos consideraram a necessidade de receber mais informações sobre o uso de antibióticos.…”