OBJECTIVES: Healthcare professionals are the key partners in the antimicrobial stewardship efforts worldwide. This study was conducted to investigate the levels of knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of Malaysian healthcare students regarding the appropriate use of antibiotics.

METHODS: In this cross-sectional survey, a total of 105 healthcare students (medicine, n=39, 37.1%; pharmacy, n=38, 36.2%; dentistry, n= 28, 26.7%) were enrolled using a convenience sampling approach from six private universities: all situated in Selangor, Malaysia. The self-administered questionnaire consisted of four sections: socio-demographic characteristics of respondents (5 items), knowledge (9 items), attitudes (15 items) and practice of antibiotic use (10 items). The data were analyzed descriptively as well as inferentially by using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), version 23.

RESULTS: Majority of the enrolled students were female (74.8%). The overall mean scores (± SD) of knowledge (3.97, ± 2.14), attitude (41.22, ± 5.5), and practice (29, ± 5.9) from the completed questionnaires suggested that the enrolled students possessed the poor level of knowledge and moderate levels of attitudes and practices. Moreover, the findings of Spearman’s correlation coefficient showed that there was a significantly positive strong correlation between attitude and practice scores (r = 0.83, p = 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: The findings of present study suggest that most of the enrolled students were not fully aware of the appropriate use of antimicrobials, resistance againt antibiotics, and its consequences. Future educational interventions and trainings are necessary to improve the students’ knowledge, and practices regarding appropriate use of antibiotics. Such interventions can be helpful to tackle the problem of rapidly growing resistence against antimicrobials through optimal use of these agents.