Antimicrobial Prescribing Preparedness of Croatian Medical Students-Did It Change between 2015 and 2019?

Background: Antimicrobials are some of the most prescribed drugs by junior doctors, but studies suggest most medical graduates feel unprepared for their future prescribing tasks. The aim of the present study was to compare the self-reported preparedness to prudently prescribe antimicrobials of final-year medical students in Croatia in 2015 and 2019.

Methods: The same self-reported web-based survey on the preparedness to prescribe antibiotics was used in both 2015 and 2019. All final-year students at all four medical schools in Croatia (Osijek, Rijeka, Split, and Zagreb) were invited to participate in both 2015 and 2019. Preparedness scores were divided into "topic preparedness scores" and "global preparedness scores". Topic preparedness scores represented the percentage of students at a medical school who felt sufficiently prepared for each topic. They were first established at a medical school level and then at the national level. Global preparedness scores were determined for each student separately and then calculated at the medical school and national levels.

Results: The country's global preparedness score, representing the average proportion of topics in which students felt sufficiently prepared, was slightly higher in 2015 compared with the 2019 results (62.7% vs. 56.5%; = 0.191). Croatian students reported higher preparedness in 2015 than in 2019 for 25 out of 27 topics included in the survey. The majority of students reported a need for more education on antibiotic use both in 2015 and 2019 (78.0% vs. 83.0%; = 0.199).

Conclusions: Despite increasing antimicrobial stewardship activities in various healthcare settings, medical students who are about to start prescribing antibiotics on their own do not feel sufficiently prepared to do so. Antimicrobial stewardship programs should be designed to incorporate undergraduate medical student education, for instance, as a specific, mandatory course or integrated into other courses, such as clinical pharmacology.