A Questionnaire-based Study to Assess the Knowledge, Attitude and Perception of Resident Doctors about Antimicrobial Stewardship at a Tertiary Care Centre

This study is aimed to identify the knowledge, attitude, and perception (KAP) of the resident doctors at a tertiary care centre about antimicrobial (AM) stewardship education so that it will be easy to address the lacunae which are identified during the training curriculum of the resident doctors. A questionnaire-based survey was carried out in the final year junior residents at a tertiary care teaching center in Maharashtra. Each respondent completed the given questionnaire in the given time. A scoring system was used to rate the KAP of the respondent as poor, average and good. 58.3% of the respondents prescribed antimicrobials for viral infection. 83.3% did not agree that antimicrobial resistance is associated with an increase in mortality, morbidity and prolonged hospitalization of the patient. The attitude of the resident doctors towards antimicrobial education is good but the deficiencies in the knowledge and perception need to be improved further. Increasing awareness about its seriousness is the initial step to curb the antimicrobial resistance. Also, various campaigns should be started to educate the general population as well along with the health care workers about antimicrobial stewardship and antimicrobial resistance. So, there is a need for new interventions to address these lacunae. Keywords: KAP, Antimicrobials, Antimicrobial stewardship, Resident doctors