Abstract
BackgroundAntibiotic resistance became a marker of irrational and overuse of these medicines in many countries. This study aims to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of medical students (MS) and non-medical students (NS) towards antibiotic use in the United Arabs Emirates (UAE).MethodA descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted amongst 1200 MS and NS from Ajman University in UAE. A self-administered questionnaire was used to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of antibiotic use. The later was composed into knowledge, attitude and practice of antibiotic use. Descriptive analysis was used to analyse the qualitative variables while quantitative variables were summarised using mean ± Standard Deviation (±SD). A Chi-square test was used to compare differences in the proportions of qualitative variables. Unpaired student’s t-test was used to test the average differences in quantitative variables across medical and non-medical students. A p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.ResultsOne thousand two hundred students (MS: 600 and NS: 600) were considered valid for analysis. On average, participants scored higher in attitude score followed by knowledge and practice scores. The average attitude score was 76% (95% CI: [75, 78%]) compared to 59% for knowledge (95% CI: [58, 60%]) and 45% (95% CI: [44, 47%]) for practice. The results suggest that overall, medical students scored remarkably better than non-medical students on KAP of antibiotic use, respectively (p = 0.0001), (p = 0.000) and (p = 0.002).ConclusionThe students’ knowledge, attitude and practice regarding antibiotic use, which drive the practice of self-medication, reflect a gap in medical curricula in UAE institutes and medical colleges.
Highlights
Antibiotic resistance became a marker of irrational and overuse of these medicines in many countries
The results suggest that overall, medical students scored remarkably better than non-medical students on KAP of antibiotic use, respectively (p = 0.0001), (p = 0.000) and (p = 0.002)
Knowledge on antibiotic use: analysis of overall knowledge score The average knowledge score was 59% with a 95% confidence interval (CI) [58, 60%] This means that on a knowledge scale of 0 to 100, participants scored an average of 59 points in the knowledge of antibiotic use
Summary
Antibiotic resistance became a marker of irrational and overuse of these medicines in many countries. A survey of 2500 medical and non-medical students in China indicated that medical students performed better than non-medical students in terms of knowledge and attitude towards antibiotic use [7] This is similar to the findings of another study conducted in Chennai among medical and paramedical students [8]. Another study [13] revealed good understanding and awareness regarding antibiotic resistance; this was consistent with the study of Khan and Banu [14] which revealed that majority of the students were aware of antimicrobial resistance and its consequences Another cross-sectional study conducted among university undergraduates to assess their knowledge and practice towards antibiotic use and reported poor knowledge of the right sources of antibiotic; majority of them used the same antibiotics as previously prescribed by their doctors to treat their perceived infections while 51.2% kept leftover antibiotics for future use [15]. In Italy, a study performed in Torino University among health care profession students revealed the existing gap between knowledge and practice [16]
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