Barriers and facilitators to the implementation of antimicrobial stewardship in veterinary education: A scoping...

To identify the barriers and facilitators to implement antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) in veterinary education globally.

Following PRISMA-Scoping review guidelines and Arksey and O'Malley's framework, this review analysed studies published between 2015 and 2025 from databases: PubMed (NCBI), Cochrane Library, Scopus (Elsevier), Embase (Elsevier), ProQuest, Web of Science (Clarivate), and CINAHL (EBSCO) to systematically identify relevant studies.

Twenty studies were included in this review; barriers identified included inadequate AMS content integration within veterinary curricula and limited teaching hours dedicated to pharmacological training for students. Other barriers include gaps between theoretical and clinical practice, lack of electronic record systems enabling real-time monitoring of antimicrobial-use patterns in teaching hospitals, and weak policy enforcement in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Facilitators included student and faculty engagement, educational interventions such as workshops, symposiums, and online learnings modules. Institutional leadership and multidisciplinary collaboration have also been found effective in AMS implementation. However, the integration of One Health and AMS programs has remained limited and inconsistent in veterinary education.

The findings emphasise the need for AMS education reforms as curricula lack structured components of responsible antimicrobial usage. Future efforts must involve veterinary stakeholder collaboration to improve curricula, infrastructure, capacity, faculty development, and promote interdisciplinary and One Health education models.