Self-perceived Preparedness to Prescribe Antibiotics Among Swiss Medical Students: Results from a Cross-sectional Survey in four Swiss Universities in 2015

BackgroundPrevious studies have highlighted that medical students do not feel well prepared to prescribe antimicrobials. The ESCMID Study Group for Antimicrobial stewardshiP (ESGAP) conducted a survey among European medical students to assess self-reported preparedness about prudent antibiotic use and the perceived lack of education. The aim of the present study was to specifically focus on the perceptions of Swiss medical students. MethodsA cross-sectional web-based survey was conducted in 2015 by ESGAP involving sixth-year medical students from Switzerland. The survey investigated self-reported preparedness on diagnosis and treatment of infections, availability and perceived usefulness of different teaching methods and the perceived need for further education on antibiotic use. “Preparedness scores” were created by calculating the percentage of students who felt sufficiently prepared on each topic. ResultsWe received responses from 137 medical students from 4 medical schools (Bern, Geneva, Lausanne and Zurich). The overall estimated response rate was 19%. Overall, 62% of Swiss students reported needing more education on antibiotics or at least on their prudent use. Teaching methods perceived as more useful were discussion of clinical cases (80.2%), clinical rotation in infectious diseases (77.0%) and small group teaching (75.0%), but the latter 2 were reported as unavailable for nearly half of the students (36.5% and 47.5%, respectively). Almost all of the students felt sufficiently prepared to recognize clinical signs of infection (99.3%), to interpret inflammation markers (94.9%) and to have sufficient knowledge of consequences of antibiotic misuse (95.5%). Less than half of them felt prepared to select the right empirical treatment without using guidelines (33.8%), to identify the need for combination therapy (39.7%) or to select the shortest adequate treatment duration (39.3%). ConclusionsMost Swiss final year medical students feel they need more education on antibiotics. Some of the teaching methods perceived as more useful by students seem still insufficiently available in Swiss medical schools. Active and interprofessional teaching activities can be a first step towards more effective education on prudent antibiotic use.