A survey of undergraduate and continuing medical education about antimicrobial chemotherapy in the United Kingdom

1 A questionnaire about undergraduate teaching on antimicrobial chemotherapy was sent to academic Departments of Clinical Pharmacology, Pharmacology and Medical Microbiology throughout the UK. 2 Questionnaires about postgraduate lectures and information circulated to doctors about antimicrobial chemotherapy were sent to Drug Information Centres and Postgraduate Tutors throughout the UK. Review articles and editorials in general medical journals were assessed. 3 The median amount of core undergraduate teaching on antimicrobial chemotherapy was 13.5 h but the range was from 9.0 h to 102.0 h. Content was predominantly oriented towards drugs rather than diseases and towards prescribing in hospital rather than in the community. Most teaching was by formal lecture as part of a core programme. On a scale from 0 to 5 the median emphasis given to individual topics ranged from 2.50 to 3.75 but the range of emphasis given by individual medical schools was wide, for example from 1.00 to 4.50 for teaching on pharmacokinetics. 4 Postgraduate tutors identified advice from local specialists and requests from local practitioners as the most important determinants of content of continuing medical education. Material from drug information centres was predominantly oriented towards discussion of individual drugs rather than management of specific diseases and even this limited survey found evidence of duplication. The UK general medical literature contained a total of 112 reviews or editorials on antimicrobial chemotherapy covering a wide range of topics but these were not, and should not be assumed to be comprehensive. 5 Almost all doctors regularly prescribe antimicrobials and require education about the subject. Wide variations in current medical practice should be addressed explicitly through more extensive use of problem solving. The literature suggests that knowledge is most effectively disseminated through local networks of practitioners. There should be more national co‐ordination of the content of information to be disseminated through the existing drug information networks.