KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE TOWARDS ANTIBIOTIC USE AND ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE AMONG MEDICAL STUDENTS: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Background: Injudiciously use of antibiotics / antimicrobial agents poses a major public health threat worldwide. Medical students will be future prescriber of antimicrobial agents so they need to have a wide awareness of the use and resistance of antibiotics. Therefore, this study was planned to assess the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) toward antibiotics usage and antibiotics resistance among medical students of JLN Medical College, Ajmer, Rajasthan, (India). Methods: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted in 255 medical students of JLN Medical College, Ajmer, Rajasthan. A validated questionnaire comprised of 20 questions, in which 10 in the knowledge section, 5 each in attitude and practice section was provided in November 2021.data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics after entering them into a Microsoft Excel sheet. Results: 94.12% knew that inappropriate uses of antibiotics agents might promote antibiotics resistance. 90.98 % of participants were aware that self-medication can make a contribution to antibiotics resistance. Students showed good knowledge about the use and resistance of antibiotics. 89.41% of participants showed a positive attitude toward the rational uses (i.e. right drug, right patient, right dose, right route and right time) of antibiotics. Overall 61.96% were proactive, whereas 38.04% were passive in practice regarding antibiotics use and antibiotics resistance. Conclusion: This study focused on knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding antibiotic use and resistance among medical students. Overall KAP score was found 74.89%, which indicates that medical students have a good awareness of the use and resistance of antimicrobial agents. Introducing a short course about the risk and development of antimicrobial resistance in their curriculum will grow the students’ awareness of avoiding the resistance phenomenon.