Awareness of antibiotic usage and antimicrobial resistance among interns in a tertiary care hospital

Authors

  • Suchitra D. Akalu Department of Pharmacology, ESIC-MC and PGIMSR, Rajajinagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
  • Niveditha G. Belavadi Department of Pharmacology, ESIC-MC and PGIMSR, Rajajinagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2319-2003.ijbcp20173736

Keywords:

Antibiotic resistance, Antibiotic usage, Interns

Abstract

Background: Antibiotic resistance is a global threat and new resistance mechanisms are emerging and spreading globally, threatening our ability to treat common infectious diseases. Reducing the incidence of drug resistant infections is crucial and is a top priority at global and national levels. A study was conducted among interns to assess the awareness related to antibiotic usage and resistance.

Methods: The questionnaire was administered to a batch of 75 medical interns whereby their awareness regarding antibiotic use and resistance was assessed by a five point Likert scale, whose responses ranged from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree”, and always to never. Some questions were of true and false type. The data was analysed by using simple descriptive statistics.

Results: Out of the 78 interns, 75 participated in the study and completed the questionnaires. All the 75 (100%) interns believed that indiscriminate antibiotic use leads to antimicrobial resistance and 78.6% (n=59) believed that if antimicrobials are taken too often, they are less likely to work in the future. Majority (90.6%) of the interns knew of the fact that common cold and influenza are due to viral aetiology and not bacterial. Regarding the antibiotic practices of the interns, questionnaire addressed questions related to their practices related to use of antimicrobials, 66.6% (n=50) of the interns disagreed on the question that antibiotics are safe drugs, hence can be commonly used while 62.6% (n=47) do not believe that skipping one or two doses of the drug does not lead to antibiotic resistance.

Conclusions: The antibiotic resistance crisis has been attributed to the overuse and misuse of these medications. Judicious use of antibiotics is the only solution for which awareness is required at the level of both health care providers and patients. Our study provides an important insight regarding the regarding awareness of antibiotic usage and antibiotic resistance among interns.

References

Antibiotic resistance. Available at: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/antibiotic-resistance/en/. Accessed on 24 April 2017

Antimicrobial Resistance: Global Report on Surveillance. World Health Organization. 2014. Available at: http://www.who.int/drugresistance/documents/surveillancereport/en/. Accessed 12 Nov 2014.

Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States. Centers for Disease Control. 2013. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/threat-report-2013/. Accessed 12 Nov 2014.

UK Five Year Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy, 2013 to 2018. Department of Health and Department for Environmental Food and Rural Affairs. 2013. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-5-year-antimicrobial-resistance-strategy-2013-to-2018. Accessed 20 Feb 2016.

Ghafur A, Mathai D, Muruganathan A, Jayalal JA, Kant R, Chaudhary D, et al. The Chennai declaration: a roadmap to tackle the challenge of antimicrobial resistance. Indian J Cancer. 2013;50:71-3.

Declaration by the Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology and Diagnostics Industries on Combating Antimicrobial Resistance. World Economic Forum, Davos Switzerland. 2016. Available at: https://amr-review.org/sites/default/files/Declaration_of_Support_for_Combating_AMR_Jan_2016.pdf. Accessed on 25 Feb 2016.

Laxminarayan R, Duse A, Wattal C, Zaidi AKM, Wertheim HFL, Sumpradit N, et al. Antibiotic resistance - the need for global solutions. Lancet Infect Dis. 2013;13:1057-98.

National Health Policy 2017. Available at: http://www.mohfw.nic.in/showfile.php?lid=4275. Accessed on 25 April 2017

Manali M, Sujatha D, Swapnil D. A Questionnaire based Survey on the Knowledge, Attitude and Practises about Antimicrobial Resistance and Usage among the Second year MBBS Students of a Teaching tertiary care Hospital in Central India. International Journal of Pharmacological Research. 2014;4(4):175-9.

CDC Antibiotic / Antimicrobial Resistance. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/about.html. Accessed on 25April 2017.

The Pursuit of Responsible Use of Medicines: Sharing and Learning from Country Experiences. Available at: http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/75828/1/WHO_EMP_MAR_2012.3_eng.pdf. 24 April 2017.

Azevedo MM, Pinheiro C, Yaphe J, Baltazar F. Portuguese students knowledge of antibiotics: a cross-sectional study of secondary school and university students in Braga. BMC Public Health. 2009;9:359.

Downloads

Published

2017-08-22

How to Cite

Akalu, S. D., & Belavadi, N. G. (2017). Awareness of antibiotic usage and antimicrobial resistance among interns in a tertiary care hospital. International Journal of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology, 6(9), 2159–2162. https://doi.org/10.18203/2319-2003.ijbcp20173736

Issue

Section

Original Research Articles