Knowledge and self-confidence of antibiotic resistance, appropriate antibiotic therapy, and antibiotic stewardship among pharmacy undergraduate students in three Asian countries

• Main Authors: Abubakar, Usman, Syed Sulaiman, Syed Azhar, Muhammad, Haseeb T, Ramatillah, Diana Laila, Amir, Omalhassan
• Format: Article
• Language: English; English; English
• Published: Elsevier Inc. 2020
• Subjects: RS Pharmacy and materia medica
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/78590/7/manuscript%20CPTL_2018_245_R3.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/78590/8/Scopus%20-%20knowledge%20and%20self%20confidence.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/78590/19/78590_Knowledge%20and%20self-confidence%20of%20antibiotic%20resistance.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/78590/; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1877129718303873

Background and purpose: Training pharmacy students in infectious diseases (ID) is important to enable them to participate in antibiotic stewardship programs. This study evaluated knowledge and self-confidence regarding antibiotic resistance, appropriate antibiotic therapy, and antibiotic stewardship among final year pharmacy undergraduate students. Methods:A cross-sectional electronic survey was conducted at universities in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Pakistan. A 59-item survey was administered between October 2017 and December 2017. Findings: The survey was completed by 211 students (response rate 77.8%). The mean knowledge score for antibiotic resistance, appropriate antibiotic therapy, and antibiotic stewardship was 5.6 ± 1.5, 4.7 ± 1.8 (maximum scores 10.0) and 3.1 ± 1.4 (maximum score 5.0), respectively. Significant variations were noted among the schools. There was poor awareness about the consequence of antibiotic resistance and cases with no need for an antibiotic. The knowledge of antibiotic resistance was higher among male respondents (6.1 vs. 5.4) and those who had attended antibiotic resistance (5.7 vs. 5.2) and antibiotic therapy (5.8 vs .4.9) courses (p <0.05). Students with ID clerkship experience (5.2 vs. 4.5) had significantly higher scores in appropriate antibiotic therapy. Conclusions: Final year pharmacy undergraduate students in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Pakistan had moderate knowledge of antibiotic resistance and antibiotic stewardship. However, the knowledge of appropriate antibiotic therapy was poor.