Antimicrobial stewardship: Perception and familiarity of future prescribers in a tertiary health institution in Northern Nigeria

Background: Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) is a coordinated program that promotes the appropriate use of antimicrobials. According to the World Health Organization, education of medical students on AMS is an integral part of antimicrobial resistance containment activities. The perception of undergraduate clinical medical students on AMS has not been studied in Nigeria recently. This study aims to identify the perception of AMS among medical students in Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria. Methodology: We conducted a cross-sectional survey on medical students in the 4th, 5th, and 6th years of study. A stratified sampling technique was employed. Open Data Kit for android was used to administer the questionnaire. Information on sociodemographics, perception of AMS, perception of the usefulness of AMS education as well as familiarity with the term AMS were collected from study respondents. Data were presented in frequency and percentages for categorical variables, while descriptive summary statistics were used for numeric variables. Results: Most of the respondents (96.2%) belonged to the age group of 20–29 years. The mean age (±standard deviation) of our respondents was 25.75 (±2.47) years. Only 34.6% were “very familiar“/”familiar” with the term “AMS.” Majority (89.2%) of the respondents did not have any knowledge about antimicrobials before entering medical school. The perception of AMS among medical students was generally good. Conclusion: Our respondents recognized the importance of judicious antibiotic use and would like more instructions on how to make rational use of antimicrobials. There is a need by authorities of the ABU medical school to revamp our clinical medical curriculum to include more AMS teaching so as to better equip our “future prescribers” on the appropriate use of antimicrobials.