A questionnaire based study to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of rationale use of antibiotics among undergraduate dental students in a tertiary care dental hospital of South India

Abstract

Background: To assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of rational use of antibiotics among dental students and make necessary interventions suitable to meet their need and aspiration.Methods: Questionnaire was administered to the students of a dental college hospital to assess their knowledge, attitude and practice about rational use of antibiotics. Data was analysed after entering in to a Microsoft excel sheet and by using descriptive statistics.Results: The response rate of our study was 100%. Large majority (94%) of the students knew that antibiotics were useful in bacterial infections. More than half of the students (63.7%) believed that antibiotic resistance is a threat to mankind. A very less percentage (23.3%) of students had ever attended (Continuous Medical Education) CME regarding the rational use of antibiotics.Conclusions: This study showed that that most of the students possessed average knowledge about antibiotics. Their attitude was also not satisfactory towards rational use of antibiotics and same was true for the practice as well. Educational intervention is utmost essential to improve their KAP regarding rational use of antibiotics.