Background
The objective of this study was to describe the knowledge regarding antibiotic therapy of students of three medical schools of Medellín, Colombia.
Methods
The study population was made up of medical students enrolled in three universities. The instrument contained questions about their current academic term, the university the perceived quality of the education received on antibiotic therapy and bacterial resistance and specific questions on upper respiratory tract infections, pneumonia, urinary tract infections and skin and soft tissue infections. The information was analysed by calculating frequencies and measures of dispersion and central tendency. Knowledge about the treatment of each type of infection was compared with the Mann–Whitney U test and the Kruskal–Wallis H test.
Results
We included 536 medical students, 43.5% consider that the university did not train them enough to interpret antibiograms, 29.6% consider that the quality of information received on the subject at their university ranges from regular to poor. The mean score for knowledge regarding antibiotic therapy for upper respiratory tract infections was 44.2 ± 9.9 on a scale from 0 to 100. In the treatment of pneumonias, the median score was 52.9 ± 14.7, in urinary tract infection was 58.7 ± 14.8 and skin and soft tissue infections was 63.1 ± 19.4. The knowledge regarding antibiotic therapy for upper respiratory tract infections, pneumonias and urinary tract infection does not improve with academic term, the university, or perception of the education received
Conclusion
A large proportion of medical students perceive that the training received from the university is deficient regarding antibiotics and bacterial resistance, which coincides with the limited knowledge reflected in the selection of antibiotic treatment for respiratory, urinary tract, skin and soft tissue infections. Overall, the situation is the same among all universities and it does not significantly increase with academic term.

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On 13 Jan, 2020
On 10 Jan, 2020
On 09 Jan, 2020
On 09 Jan, 2020
On 08 Jan, 2020
Received 22 Dec, 2019
On 13 Dec, 2019
Received 13 Dec, 2019
Invitations sent on 12 Dec, 2019
On 12 Dec, 2019
On 04 Dec, 2019
On 03 Dec, 2019
On 03 Dec, 2019
Posted 07 Aug, 2019
On 04 Nov, 2019
Received 31 Oct, 2019
Received 21 Oct, 2019
Received 20 Oct, 2019
On 19 Oct, 2019
On 16 Oct, 2019
On 14 Oct, 2019
Invitations sent on 04 Sep, 2019
On 16 Aug, 2019
On 02 Aug, 2019
On 02 Aug, 2019
On 30 Jul, 2019
On 13 Jan, 2020
On 10 Jan, 2020
On 09 Jan, 2020
On 09 Jan, 2020
On 08 Jan, 2020
Received 22 Dec, 2019
On 13 Dec, 2019
Received 13 Dec, 2019
Invitations sent on 12 Dec, 2019
On 12 Dec, 2019
On 04 Dec, 2019
On 03 Dec, 2019
On 03 Dec, 2019
Posted 07 Aug, 2019
On 04 Nov, 2019
Received 31 Oct, 2019
Received 21 Oct, 2019
Received 20 Oct, 2019
On 19 Oct, 2019
On 16 Oct, 2019
On 14 Oct, 2019
Invitations sent on 04 Sep, 2019
On 16 Aug, 2019
On 02 Aug, 2019
On 02 Aug, 2019
On 30 Jul, 2019
Background
The objective of this study was to describe the knowledge regarding antibiotic therapy of students of three medical schools of Medellín, Colombia.
Methods
The study population was made up of medical students enrolled in three universities. The instrument contained questions about their current academic term, the university the perceived quality of the education received on antibiotic therapy and bacterial resistance and specific questions on upper respiratory tract infections, pneumonia, urinary tract infections and skin and soft tissue infections. The information was analysed by calculating frequencies and measures of dispersion and central tendency. Knowledge about the treatment of each type of infection was compared with the Mann–Whitney U test and the Kruskal–Wallis H test.
Results
We included 536 medical students, 43.5% consider that the university did not train them enough to interpret antibiograms, 29.6% consider that the quality of information received on the subject at their university ranges from regular to poor. The mean score for knowledge regarding antibiotic therapy for upper respiratory tract infections was 44.2 ± 9.9 on a scale from 0 to 100. In the treatment of pneumonias, the median score was 52.9 ± 14.7, in urinary tract infection was 58.7 ± 14.8 and skin and soft tissue infections was 63.1 ± 19.4. The knowledge regarding antibiotic therapy for upper respiratory tract infections, pneumonias and urinary tract infection does not improve with academic term, the university, or perception of the education received
Conclusion
A large proportion of medical students perceive that the training received from the university is deficient regarding antibiotics and bacterial resistance, which coincides with the limited knowledge reflected in the selection of antibiotic treatment for respiratory, urinary tract, skin and soft tissue infections. Overall, the situation is the same among all universities and it does not significantly increase with academic term.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4
This is a list of supplementary files associated with this preprint. Click to download.
Loading...