Antimicrobial use practices of veterinary clinicians at a veterinary teaching hospital in the United States

Indiscriminate antimicrobial use (AMU) is a factor contributing to antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The objec-tives of this study were to (1) identify factors influencing AMU practices of veterinary clinicians at TheUniversity of Tennessee Veterinary Medical Center (UTVMC), (2) analyze the clinicians’preferential choices ofantimicrobials, and (3) evaluate their perceptions, opinions, and concerns regarding AMU and AMR. A total of121 clinicians were surveyed. Among the 62 respondents, culture and susceptibility test results and pressurefrom clients were the most and least important factors in their antimicrobial prescription decision-making, re-spectively. Compared to clinicians who obtained their veterinary degree from 1970 to 1999, those who grad-uated from 2000 to 2009 and 2010–2016 were 3.96 (P= 0.034) and 5.39 (P= 0.01) times less concerned aboutAMR, respectively. There is a critical need to increase awareness about judicious AMU practices among clin-icians, increase emphasis about AMR in the present veterinary curriculum, and implement antimicrobialstewardship program (AMS) in this institution. Educational activities in combination with awareness campaignsand the stewardship programs could be used to improve AMU practices at this hospital. More client education onAMR is needed.

This article was published openly thanks to the University of Tennessee Open Publishing Support Fund.

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.