Comparison of health care professionals’ and laypeople’s knowledge, attitudes, and practices on the use of antimicrobial and antimicrobial resistance

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The discovery of antimicrobials is a pioneering step in health sciences concerning preventive care and early management for infectious diseases. However, with advancements in health sciences, inappropriate knowledge, practices, and over‑the‑counter medications were often used by the general population in underdeveloped nations like India without thinking about its consequences which leads to the use of antimicrobials excessively or inadequately, which is also a factor for antimicrobial resistance. This quantitative study determines the awareness of healthcare professionals and laypersons about usage and resistance of antimicrobials. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Research was carried out in rural tertiary teaching hospital of study participants were 106 nurses, 115 interns, 107 junior residents, and 97 laypersons using a “self‑administered WHO questionnaire”. SPSS version 27.0 software was used to analyze the data. The P value cut‑off for significance was established at