4.4 Knowledge of antibiotics resistance among the respondents
Similar to a previous study done by Sakeena et al.26, a substantial proportion of our students were familiar with many of the terminologies related to antibiotic-resistance, they knew these terminologies mostly from the doctors, followed by the media and pharmacists. This indicates that doctors are playing a major role in educating and disseminating the awareness of AR to our respondents. Since the final year medical students are the doctors of tomorrow, a better understanding of these terminologies allows them to provide proper counselling to their patients.
Furthermore, similar to the WHO multi-country survey27, about 60% of the respondents assume that AR happened when the body became resistant to it. The WHO multi-country survey stated that in facts, it is the bacteria strains that undergo changes in response to the use of antibiotics, subsequently, the bacteria can no longer respond to the effects of antibiotics that were once being sensitive.27
Besides, around 78% of the respondents disagree that antibiotic resistance is the only problem for those who took antibiotics regularly and 84% of them believe that antibiotic-resistant bacteria can be spread from person to person. In contrast to the result of the WHO multi-country survey,27 our students are having a better understanding of the mechanism of antibiotics resistance. Irrespective of the age, race and country, the risk of getting antibiotics resistance is common for everyone as the bacteria can be spread from one person to another. Poor sanitation, poor hygiene, and poor infection control will subsequently escalate the widespread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. To tackle this issue, good hand hygiene is important as it minimizes the risk of becoming carrier of resistant bacteria.28