4.3 Knowledge of antibiotics use among the respondents
WHO along with multiple national guidelines and protocols, strongly
advise patients that “a full course of antibiotics should be finished
even feeling better because stopping treatment early promotes the growth
of drug-resistant bacteria”.22,23 It is noteworthy
that all respondents in our study are having good compliance with the
antibiotic regimen. In contrast, a survey conducted in Greece revealed
that only 59% of them completed the full course of the antibiotic
regimen.24 This discrepancy could be attributed to our
respondents are all final year medical students who have gone through
adequate clinical practices. Hence, they are more conscious about the
consequences of non-compliance to the full prescription regimen.
Apart from that, the overall knowledge of antibiotics’ use in various
conditions among the respondents was moderate to good. This finding was
consistent with the prior studies,18,19,25 which also
showed adequate knowledge on the use of antibiotics. Among the
respondents of this current study, most of them know that antibiotics
can only be used to kill bacteria and treat bacterial infections instead
of the viral infections such as HIV or AIDS, cold and flu.
Interestingly, half of our respondents agreed that antibiotic can be
used in treating sore throat condition. In fact, antibiotics should not
be chosen as first-line treatment in treating any pain or inflammation
as they are not indicated for this purpose.18 This
misconception might due to the limited knowledge of the rational use of
antibiotics.26 Therefore, the future prescriber should
be well taught on the proper use of antibiotics in order to provide a
better treatment outcome to the patients. More rigorous courses and
assessments regarding the rational use of antibiotics are advisable to
be imparted into the medical curriculum program.