Evaluation of the Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviours of the First-Year Medical Students at Erciyes University About Rational Antibiotic Usage

Objective: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the knowledge of the first-year medical students at Erciyes University about rational antibiotic usage. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in May 2017 by using questionnaire technique. Participation rate was 96.4%. Results: Percentage of the students said that they had not heard the terms "rational antibiotic usage" and the term "antibiotic susceptibility testing" were 53.8% and 73.9%, respectively. 48.6% took antibiotics without prescription, and 24.7% could take them on recommendation. The rate of antibiotic use in the last six months was 35.1%. Of the students who used antibiotics in the last six months, 75.4% said that the antibiotic was given by a physician, 84.9% did not remember the name of the antibiotic, and 32.3% said that they did not complete the treatment period. A statistically significant difference was found according to gender between the use of antibiotics on recommendation and having heard of the antibiotic susceptibility testing. Usage rate of antibiotics on recommendation was 19.3% among female students vs. 30.6% among male students. While 32.1% of the female students had heard of antibiotic susceptibility testing, only 19.4% of the males had heard about it. Conclusions: Considering that students studying in medical faculties are role models, raising their awareness about antibiotics is important.