Perceptions and preparedness of senior medical students about antimicrobial stewardship programs: are we providing adequate training to future prescribers?

Abstract

Background Senior medical students will become one of the key partners in antimicrobial stewardship efforts in the future, yet the level of education and their perceptions toward this topic are not well documented in China. Research Design and methods we conducted a cross-sectional, anonymous, online survey between December 2021 and February 2022. The students came from 6 universities of all five provinces/autonomous regions in northwest China. Students completed the survey by using WeChat. Results More than half of students agreed/strongly agreed that antimicrobials are overused (53.1%) and that antimicrobial resistance is a significant problem nationally (50.2%). Most of the respondents (70%) were interested in learning more about antimicrobials. Around 60% of the respondents thought they were well prepared for future use of antimicrobials. Only 30% of the respondents were familiar with the term “Antimicrobial Stewardship”, but 80.7% were interested in taking part in an antimicrobial stewardship program training. More than half of the senior medical students thought that courses in antibacterial is suitable for second and third academic years. Conclusions It is therefore suggested to provide specific curriculum and strengthen training of antimicrobial use for medical students in the future, as well as more rotation practice in infectious diseases related departments.