Antimicrobial knowledge and confidence amongst final year medical students in Australia

Abstract

Introduction: Inappropriate use of antimicrobials is one of the major modifiable contributors to antimicrobial resistance. There is currently no validated survey tool available to assess knowledge and confidence of medical students in infectious diseases (ID) compared to other diseases states, and little is known about this topic.

Materials and methods: A cross-sectional survey of final year medical students attending universities around Australia was conducted between August and September, 2015. A survey unique from other published studies was developed to survey satisfaction in education, confidence and knowledge in ID, and how this compared to these factors in cardiovascular diseases.

Results: Reliability and validity was demonstrated in the survey tool used. Students were more likely to rate university education as sufficient for cardiovascular diseases (91.3%) compared to ID (72.5%), and were more confident in their knowledge of cardiovascular diseases compared to ID (74.38% vs. 53.76%). Students tended to answer more cardiovascular disease related clinical questions correctly (mean score 78%), compared to questions on antimicrobial use (mean score 45%).

Conclusions: Poor knowledge and confidence amongst final year medical students in Australia were observed in ID. Antimicrobial stewardship agenda should include the provision of additional training in antimicrobial prescribing to the future medical workforce.

Fig 1. Confidence in knowledge in different clinical situations.

NB: Answers were classified as ‘not confident’ if student rated their confidence between -5 (Not at all confident) and 0 (Neutral) on the Likert Scale. Answers were classified as ‘somewhat confident/most confident’ if students rated their confidence as 1 or higher.

Fig 2. Perceptions of impact different factors have on antimicrobial resistance.

NB: Responses were classed as a perception of ‘no impact/little impact’ if students rated between 0 (No Impact) and 4 on the 11 point Likert Scale. Responses were classed as a perception of ‘Some impact/great impact’ if students rated from 5 (Some Impact) to 10 (A Great Impact) on the Likert scale.