Pharmacy Students’ Knowledge and Perceptions about Antimicrobial Stewardship

Introduction: Antibiotic resistance is considered one of the serious threats to global public health. Antimicrobial stewardship programs should be implemented by all hospitals to improve antimicrobial use. It is important that pharmacy students have a sound knowledge of antimicrobial stewardship.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine pharmacy students’ knowledge and perceptions about antimicrobial stewardship.

Methodology: The study included a questionnaire that was used to assess the background knowledge of pharmacy students and their perceptions on antimicrobial stewardship.

Results and Discussion: Out of 103 students who completed the survey, 25 students (24.27%) reported that they know what antimicrobial Stewardship is, and only 39 students were familiar with antimicrobial stewardship programs in Saudi Arabia. Most of the students (95.14%) reported that they need more antimicrobial stewardship training.

Conclusion: Our results, therefore, recommend that pharmacy students should have more training on bacterial resistance, antibiotic use and antimicrobial stewardship.