Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance by promoting Antimicrobial stewardship in Medical and Allied Health Professional Curricula

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Antimicrobial resistance poses a serious threat to global health with significantly higher morbidity, mortality, and economic burden. This review aims to discuss the importance of the promotion of antimicrobial stewardship in medical and allied health professional curricula and training/educating tomorrow’s doctors in combatting antimicrobial resistance. A narrative literature review was conducted to retrieve relevant information related to antimicrobial resistance and stewardship and their implications on medical and allied health professional education and training from searches of computerized databases, hand searches, and authoritative texts.

Areas covered

Antimicrobial stewardship programs improve rational antibiotic use, reduce antimicrobial resistance, decrease complications of antibiotic use, and improve patient outcomes. Though health professional students recognize the importance and impact of antibiotic prescribing knowledge, many studies have consistently demonstrated low levels of confidence and competencies amongst students, highlighting that health professional schools failed to prepare them to prescribe antibiotics accurately.

Expert opinion

There is an urgent call for the integration of antimicrobial stewardship teaching at the undergraduate level of medical education to train future prescribers on this critical aspect of public health. Proper undergraduate education on rational antibiotics use would enable health professional graduates to enter clinical practice with adequate competencies to become rational prescribers.

KEYWORDS:

• Antimicrobial resistance
• antibiotic stewardship
• prudent prescribing
• health professional education and training
• curriculum

Article highlights

• Antibiotic misuse is widespread and contributes to antimicrobial resistance, which poses a severe threat to global health resulting in significantly higher morbidity, mortality, as well as an economic burden.

• Though medical and other allied health professional students recognize the importance and implications of antibiotic prescribing knowledge, many studies have consistently demonstrated low levels of confidence and competencies amongst students highlighting that medical and health professional schools failed to prepare them to prescribe antibiotics accurately.

• Antimicrobial stewardship programs improve rational antibiotic use, reduce antibiotic resistance, decrease complications of antibiotic use, and improve patient outcomes.

• There is an urgent call for the integration of antibiotic stewardship teaching at undergraduate medical and health professional education level to educate future prescribers in this critical aspect of public health.

• Proper undergraduate education on rational antimicrobials use would enable health professional graduates to enter clinical practice with adequate competencies to become rational prescribers.

• Undergraduate medical and other allied health professional curricula should comply with recently developed the WHO GAP-AMR strategic action plan-based proposals.

Author contributions

Substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data: MAAM, KS, MGSH, SR, BS, MH; Drafting the article or revising it critically for valuable intellectual content: MAAM, KS, MGSH, SR, BS, MH; Final approval of the version to be published: MAAM, KS, MGSH, SR, BS, MH; Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved: MAAM, KS, MGSH, SR, BS, MH; Project administration: MAAM, KS, MGSH, SR, BS, MH.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.