DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2016.v04i09.022

Pages: 3294-3298

The discovery of antibiotics although was a serendipity it was an important milestone in the history of medicine. Unfortunately in a remarkably short period of time antibiotic resistance started emerging since antibiotics were misused by the doctors and the community. Before endorsing the society at large for abuse of antibiotics it is better to know the level of knowledge of antibiotics amongst the healthcare workers. Hence this study was undertaken to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of antibiotics among health care professionals. The study was done in a 750 bed tertiary care hospital. Three groups of HCW were selected for the study including 63juniorresidents, 100 interns and 165 staff nurses. The study was done using a pretested semi structured questionnaire. Almost 100% of interns knew that virus is the most common cause of common cold whereas only 43% nurses knew virus as the most common causative agent. Sixty five percept of staff nurses replied they will start antibiotics if they develop flu to prevent symptoms from getting worse whereas only 25% of doctors responded they will start antibiotic for flu. Our study revealed that there is a knowledge gap among nurses and to a lesser extent even amongst doctors on use of antibiotics which has to improve since these doctors will be prescribing and advising patients on antibiotics in future.