Abstract

Background: Antibiotic abuse is a shared problem worldwide. People misuse antibiotics for simple viral infection without a medical prescription. This practice could lead to potential harmful effects on community health. Physician's knowledge is also very important to prescribe proper antibiotics for the patients. Thereby, this study aimed to assess the knowledge and practice toward antibiotics use among medical students at Majma’ah University in Saudi Arabia.
Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among 304 medical students of Majma'ah University. Data were collected between February and March 2018, by using self-administered questionnaire among a sample of 171 medical students from different academic years.
Results: Overall, the majority of participants (64.1%) had a good knowledge of the irrational use of antibiotics, while 26.1% had adequate knowledge. There were no significant associations among the academic level, gender, and the knowledge of the irrational use of antibiotics. The results showed most of the students (66.7%) took antibiotics prescribed by physicians, (16.3%) by self-prescription, and (6.5%) by pharmacists. Almost, 58.2% students' source about irrational use of antibiotics was from the physician and health care professionals.
Conclusion: The study showed that the overall level of knowledge of medical students at Majma'ah University was good. Physician and health care professionals were the source of information for most of the students. Majority of the students took antibiotics as prescribed by a physician, which indicated a good practice.

Key words: Knowledge, practice, antibiotic, medical student, irrational use