Factors most influencing antibiotic stewardship program and comparison of prefinal- and final-year undergraduate medical students

BACKGROUND: As future practitioners, undergraduate medical students have a key role in the antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP). However, at present, there are not much data about their knowledge and perception of antibiotic resistance and ASP. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey administered to the prefinal- and final-year undergraduate medical students of a tertiary care institution. RESULTS: One hundred and ninety-seven students participated in our study constituting 70% response rate. The mean difference in knowledge score between prefinal- and final-year students was 0.77 (95% confidence interval: 0.30–1.24, P = 0.0016). Thirty-seven (39.7%) prefinal- and 57 (54.8%) final-year students knew the correct definition of antimicrobial stewardship. Majority of the participants, i.e., 66 (70.9%) prefinal-year and 80 (76.9%) final-year students perceived antibiotic resistance as a public health problem. Principal component analysis revealed the greater role of attitude-related questions. CONCLUSION: Good knowledge and positive attitude are paramount for the effective implementation of the antibiotic stewardship program. Our study revealed that the knowledge gap exists among the undergraduate students about the rational use of the antibiotic stewardship program. It was also revealed that the role of attitude plays a more significant role than knowledge for the proper understanding of the program. A sustained effort is required to make them aware of the rational use of antibiotics by incorporating the knowledge and practice of the ASP into their study curriculum.