Abstract

KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE TOWARDS ANTIBIOTICS USE AND BACTERIAL RESISTANCE AMONG FINAL YEAR MEDICAL STUDENTS

Fadwa Hamad and Tarig Osman*

Abstract

Background: Antibiotic resistance has become a worldwide public health concern and is in part related to physicians’ and pharmacist's lack of knowledge. It is essential to focus our attention on healthcare profession students. Objective: This study was conducted to assess the knowledge and attitude towards antibiotics use and bacterial resistance among final year medical students of different universities. Methods: This is an observational cross-sectional university student's based study. A 393 of final year students of medicine, pharmacy, and nursing faculties were enrolled. The study was completed in National University (private university) and Neelain University (governmental university) in Khartoum State, Sudan. Data were collected using a predesign pretested questionnaire. The questionnaires were divided into two parts; knowledge and attitude towards antibiotic use and resistance. Data were analyzed by employing One-way ANOVA and Independent T-Test using (IBM SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL) and STATA version 11. Results: Findings of this study found that 49% of the total study population had poor knowledge towards antibiotic use and bacterial resistance. Also, almost half (51%) of the total study population had good knowledge towards antibiotic use and bacterial resistance. Additionally, 42% of the total population had poor attitude towards antibiotic use and bacterial resistance. Binary logistic regression for prediction knowledge has been used, and it was found that the private university was poor in knowledge 2.214 times more than the governmental university; Students who have no family members working in the medical field have 6.719 times more poor knowledge than students who have family members working in the medical field; private university contributed more to being poor in attitude 1.839 compared to the governmental university; students from nursing and medicine faculties were found to be poor in attitude 1.834 times more compared to pharmacy faculties. students with poor knowledge contributed to being poor in attitude 2.342 times. Conclusions: Nearly half of the total students had poor knowledge and attitude towards antibiotic use and bacterial resistance. Sufficient knowledge is associated with better attitude and vice versa. Governmental university students associated with better knowledge and attitude toward antibiotic use; private universities should be investigated to detect the barriers. Nursing and medicine students are associated with poorer knowledge and attitude. Curricula should be modified, especially for medicine and nursing. Activities such as seminars and workshops regarding antibiotics are needed to emphasize students.

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