Antibiotic use and resistance: Assessment of healthcare workers’ knowledge, attitude, and practice

Background: Multidrug resistant bacteria have become a major public health concern worldwide. Inappropriate and overuse of antibiotics are known promoters of antibiotic resistance. This study was therefore carried out to assess healthcare workers’ knowledge, attitude, and practice on antibiotic use and resistance. Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among healthcare workers from University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH) Enugu, Nigeria. A self-administered questionnaire was used to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of antibiotic use and resistance. Descriptive and inferential analyses were subjected on the data. Results: A total of 600 healthcare workers were surveyed with male: female ratio of 1:2.2. The mean age of the participants was 39.6±25.6 years. The level of knowledge was 58.8%, followed by attitude (49.1%) and practice (24.3%). The knowledge on super bugs (40.3%) and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (37.3%) was the least on resistant organisms surveyed. The main source of information was internet with the least being television/newspaper. Slightly less than half, (287/600, 47.8%) always do laboratory investigations before commencing antibiotics and (373/600, 62.2%) will stop taking antibiotics when their symptoms improve without completing the dosage. Majority of the participants (91.2%) indicated that healthcare workers are at risk of acquiring the antimicrobial-resistant organisms; however, only 67.7% believed that UNTH has the same problem. Conclusion: The knowledge, attitude, and practice of healthcare workers on antibiotic use and resistance were not encouraging. Greater educational interventions are, therefore, necessary to improve public awareness and develop behavioral measures to curb the spread of the resistant organisms.