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Junior doctors' knowledge and perceptions of antibiotic resistance and prescribing: a survey in France and Scotland.

Pulcini C, Williams F, Molinari N, Davey P, Nathwani D

. Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nice, Service d'Infectiologie, Hôpital l'Archet 1, Route Saint Antoine de Ginestière, BP 3079, 06202 Nice Cedex 3, France.

ABSTRACT Our objective was to assess junior doctors' perceptions of their antibiotic prescribing practice and of bacterial resistance. We surveyed 190 postgraduate doctors still in training at two university teaching hospitals: Nice (France) and Dundee (Scotland, UK). 139/190 (73%) doctors responded to the survey. The main results presented in this abstract are presented combined for Nice and Dundee because there was no statistical difference for these points between the two hospitals. Antibiotic resistance was perceived as a national problem by 95% of the junior doctors, but only 63% rated the problem as important in their own daily practice.Their perceptions about the causes of antibiotic resistance were sometimes at variance with available medical evidence, with excessive durations of antibiotic treatments and poor hand hygiene practices rarely perceived as important drivers for resistance. Only 31% and 26% of the doctors knew the correct prevalences of antibiotic misuse and of MRSA in hospitals respectively. They prefered educational interventions, such as specific teaching sessions, availability of guidelines or readily accessible advice from an Infectious Diseases specialist, to improve antibiotic prescribing, rather than restricted prescription of antibiotics. These data provide helpful information when designing strategies to optimise adherence to good antimicrobial stewardship.

Published 5 February 2010 in Clin Microbiol Infect.
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