Healthcare workers’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviours with respect to antibiotics, antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance across 30 EU/EEA countries in 2019

This is a baseline study, which aims to: (i) assess the knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of healthcare workers in 30 EU/EEA (European Union/European Economic Area) countries with respect to antibiotics, antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance; (ii) provide a baseline dataset for designing and evaluating future policy, communication and educational interventions; and (iii) support the evaluation of awareness raising campaigns including EAAD.

While several studies in Europe have assessed antibiotic-related knowledge and attitudes of members of the public, healthcare students or individual professional groups, there is a paucity of equivalent literature that focuses on healthcare workers. To our knowledge, this is the first multi-country and multi-professional study on the knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of healthcare workers regarding antibiotics, antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance, and it has identified important knowledge gaps.