Infectious diseases and antimicrobial prescribing: Online spaced education for junior doctors

V Menon; A Chubaty; K Clezy; Y Su; J J Post; A Janssen; T Shaw; P Konecny

doi:10.1016/j.jgar.2020.02.008

Infectious diseases and antimicrobial prescribing: Online spaced education for junior doctors

J Glob Antimicrob Resist. 2020 Sep:22:226-230. doi: 10.1016/j.jgar.2020.02.008. Epub 2020 Feb 19.

Authors

V Menon¹, A Chubaty², K Clezy¹, Y Su³, J J Post¹, A Janssen⁴, T Shaw⁴, P Konecny⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Infectious Diseases, Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, Australia; Prince of Wales Clinical School, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
² Pharmacy Department, Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, Australia.
³ Department of Infectious Diseases, Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, Australia.
⁴ Research in Implementation Science and eHealth Group, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
⁵ Department of Infectious Diseases, Immunology & Sexual Health, St George Hospital, Sydney, Australia; St George and Sutherland Clinical School, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Electronic address: pam.konecny@health.nsw.gov.au.

PMID: 32087310
DOI: 10.1016/j.jgar.2020.02.008

Abstract

Background: Inappropriate antimicrobial prescribing may harm patients and drive antimicrobial resistance. Junior doctors' knowledge of infectious diseases and antimicrobial prescribing is inadequate. Online spaced case-based learning can improve knowledge.

Objective: To develop infectious diseases and antimicrobial prescribing course content for online spaced education and assess its effectiveness and feasibility for junior doctors.

Methods: Infectious diseases and antimicrobial course content was developed for an online spaced education platform (Qstream Inc., Burlington, MA). Junior doctors (postgraduate years 1-3) at two tertiary teaching hospitals in Sydney participated in the study. Course content was provided with Qstream at one hospital and at the other hospital via two face-to-face (FTF) tutorials from August to October 2017. Knowledge and self-confidence were compared before and after training within and between both cohorts.

Results: Participation in the course was higher in the Qstream cohort with 48/127 (37.8%) completing the course compared with 44/110 (40%) attending one or both FTF sessions, of whom 22/110 (20%) attended both. Improvement in mean knowledge score from 69.7% to 81.5% in the Qstream cohort was significantly greater than the FTF cohort's minimal improvement from 67.6% to 67.9% (95% CI 2.79-20.33; P=0.01). In the Qstream cohort mean confidence rating (0-10) improvement from 5.14 to 6.55 was greater than the FTF group improvement from 5.37 to 5.85 (95% CI 0.132-1.171; P=0.02). Qstream feedback was very positive.

Conclusions: Online spaced education in infectious diseases and antimicrobial prescribing was feasible, acceptable and effective for junior doctors. It has potential to reduce inappropriate antimicrobial prescribing and warrants further investigation.

Keywords: Antibiotic prescribing course; Antimicrobial resistance; Antimicrobial stewardship; Infectious diseases training; Junior doctor; Online spaced education.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Anti-Bacterial Agents* / therapeutic use
Communicable Diseases* / drug therapy
Hospitals, Teaching
Humans
Inappropriate Prescribing

Substances

Anti-Bacterial Agents