Exploring UK medical schools' perception and intent for teaching on antimicrobial resistance and stewardship
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Background
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a key global public health threat. Developing healthcare worker awareness and knowledge in AMR and antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) are UK national action plan targets. Competency frameworks have been developed to support improved undergraduate teaching, but their uptake is unclear.
Methods
A targeted survey was sent to all UK medical schools to determine curriculum learning objectives (LOs) on AMR/AMS and distribution of teaching opportunities across courses. Replies were mapped to the six McMaster competency framework domains to identify areas of strength and potential gaps in undergraduate teaching models.
Results
Replies were received from 50/52 (96.2%) medical schools. AMR/AMS teaching through dedicated teaching sessions was offered by 32/50 (64.0%), whereas 11/50 (22.0%) had fully integrated courses and 7/50 (14.0%) were unable to identify any LOs. Data on dedicated teaching provision (mean 7.7 h/course, IQR 3.0–10.5) were provided by 32/50 (64.0%). Evidence for mapping to the McMaster competencies was highly variable, ranging from 1/50 (2.0%) to 35/50 (70.0%) across the six key domains. Where identified, mapping to knowledge-based competencies was observed to be significantly greater than to practical-based competencies (OR 3.2, 95% CI 2.5–4.1, P < 0.0001). Ten of 50 (20.0%) highlighted learning opportunities in clinical years were opportunistic, variable, indirect or incidental.
Conclusions
Current approaches to UK undergraduate AMR/AMS medical education appear limited, with greater focus on knowledge-based competencies and less focus on practical skills. Reliance on opportunistic teaching in clinical years presents challenges for programme assurance and impact assessment. Minimizing unwanted variability in medical school teaching and learning in AMR/AMS should be pursued, and inclusion in the UK Medical Licensing Assessment content map may provide such an opportunity.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a key global public health threat. Developing healthcare worker awareness and knowledge in AMR and antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) are UK national action plan targets. Competency frameworks have been developed to support improved undergraduate teaching, but their uptake is unclear.
Methods
A targeted survey was sent to all UK medical schools to determine curriculum learning objectives (LOs) on AMR/AMS and distribution of teaching opportunities across courses. Replies were mapped to the six McMaster competency framework domains to identify areas of strength and potential gaps in undergraduate teaching models.
Results
Replies were received from 50/52 (96.2%) medical schools. AMR/AMS teaching through dedicated teaching sessions was offered by 32/50 (64.0%), whereas 11/50 (22.0%) had fully integrated courses and 7/50 (14.0%) were unable to identify any LOs. Data on dedicated teaching provision (mean 7.7 h/course, IQR 3.0–10.5) were provided by 32/50 (64.0%). Evidence for mapping to the McMaster competencies was highly variable, ranging from 1/50 (2.0%) to 35/50 (70.0%) across the six key domains. Where identified, mapping to knowledge-based competencies was observed to be significantly greater than to practical-based competencies (OR 3.2, 95% CI 2.5–4.1, P < 0.0001). Ten of 50 (20.0%) highlighted learning opportunities in clinical years were opportunistic, variable, indirect or incidental.
Conclusions
Current approaches to UK undergraduate AMR/AMS medical education appear limited, with greater focus on knowledge-based competencies and less focus on practical skills. Reliance on opportunistic teaching in clinical years presents challenges for programme assurance and impact assessment. Minimizing unwanted variability in medical school teaching and learning in AMR/AMS should be pursued, and inclusion in the UK Medical Licensing Assessment content map may provide such an opportunity.
Date Issued
2025-12-01
Date Acceptance
2025-10-08
Citation
JAC-Antimicrobial Resistance, 2025, 7 (6)
ISSN
2632-1823
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Journal / Book Title
JAC-Antimicrobial Resistance
Volume
7
Issue
6
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2025. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/41262709
PII: dlaf200
Subjects
Infectious Diseases
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Microbiology
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Science & Technology
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
England
Article Number
dlaf200
Date Publish Online
2025-11-18