Senior Nursing Students Knowledge about the Use of Antibiotics

Background: An international hazard to public health and safety is antibiotic resistance. Clinical antibiotic malpractice may be a result of insufficient clinical antibiotic stewardship education provided in universities, which could have detrimental effects on patient health. Objective: The current study aim to determine the nursing student’s knowledge of using antibiotics. Methodology: A cross-sectional design was used. A total of 250 students from the University of Mosul/ Faculty of Nursing, both genders were asked to complete the Arabic version of the questionnaire "Knowledge of the use, resistance and administration of antibiotics" between September and December 2023. Researchers employed a questionnaire to collect data on the sociodemographic traits of the participants and their knowledge of antibiotic usage; this section contained 21 questions about antibiotic divided in three part (knowledge about antibiotic materials, knowledge about use and knowledge about resistance). Three categories were used to determine level of knowledge about antibiotics based on total scores of knowledge: Students had not acceptance level of knowledge about antibiotics (0–7), Acceptance (8–14), and Excellent (15–21). SPSS version 25 was used for the data analysis. Result: Following data analysis, the knowledge levels of nursing students were determined to be as follows: not acceptance (25.6%), acceptance (69.2%), and excellent (5.2%). Additionally, with a P value of <0.05, The sociodemographic characteristics of nursing students do not statistically significantly correlate with their level of knowledge. Conclusion: Our survey concluded that nursing students had inappropriate knowledge of antibiotic use. Misconceptions are prominent in certain areas, To increase knowledge levels, new educational activities are therefore required within the existing nursing curriculum. These students need more training and lectures to increase their understanding of antibiotics.