Attitude and perception of junior resident doctors' regarding antibiotic resistance – A pilot study

ObjectiveTo analyze the attitude and perception of junior resident doctors' regarding antibiotic resistance and prescribing.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted in two tertiary care centres in the New Delhi during the months of May-June 2012. An email based questionnaire was emailed to all the junior residents (JRs) working in the clinical setting and all the responses obtained within 2 months were included in the study. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS v.17.ResultsThis email based questionnaire was forwarded to 80 JRs. 53 responses were deemed appropriate for analysis with response rate of 66.25%. Forty-nine JRs (92.45%) believed that antibiotic resistance is a problem in India while 38 JRs (71.7%) believed it is a problem in their hospital. 28 JRs (52.83%) had received training regarding antibiotic prescription in last 6 months while 25 (47.17%) had not received any training. 47 JRs (88.7%) believed that Medical Council should take strict actions prohibiting irrational use of antibiotics. Only 18 JRs (33.96%) said that Government of India should go ahead with proposed plan of restricting junior doctors from prescribing third and fourth generation antibiotics without Head of Department's permission.ConclusionsMost of the junior residents believe that antibiotic resistance is an emerging problem in their hospital as also nationally. There is a large unmet need of providing education to these residents.