Assessment of knowledge, perception of resident doctors regarding antibiotic resistance and prescription practice at zagazig university hospital, 2013

Background: Antibiotics are among the most frequently prescribed drugs worldwide. The overuse and/ or misuse of antibiotics can result in significant consequences as antimicrobial resistance, therapeutic failures, drug toxicities and drug interactions. Since antibiotics are medications that mainly prescribed by physicians, any action aimed at improving use of antimicrobials must necessarily target physicians. Objectives: To assess knowledge, perception and practice of the resident doctors about antibiotic resistance and antibiotic prescription at Zagazig University Hospital and to identify factors affecting them. Methodology: A cross-sectional survey was done at Zagazig University teaching hospital between July and September 2013. Self-administrated questionnaire were used to assess resident doctors' knowledge, perception and practice about antibiotics. Results: From 195 target physicians, 175 agreed to participate. The mean score of knowledge about quiz answer, perception about resistance and perception about prescription were (3.6, 3.8, and 3.2 respectively). The age of the resident doctors was statistically significant affecting answering of the eight quizzes and in the perception about antibiotics resistance (P=0.00) The answering of the eight quizzes, perception about antibiotics resistance and perception about antimicrobial prescription were significantly higher among male doctors than female doctors (P=0.000). There was also significant association between experience (> 2years) and the answering of the eight quizzes, perception about antibiotics resistance (P=0.000). Age groups, answering of the eight quizzes, the perception about antibiotics resistance and perception about antimicrobial prescription were statistically significantly affecting practice of resident doctors about antibiotic prescription ( P<0.05). Conclusion: This study concluded that knowledge of resident doctors and perception about antibiotic prescription was suboptimal. The perception about antibiotic resistance was very high, while doctors practice in prescribing antibiotic was satisfactory. Keywords: Antibiotic Resistance, Antibiotic Prescription, Resident Doctors, Perception, Knowledge.