Abstract: Objective:To investigate the cognition and application of antibiotics in vocational college students, analyze the risk factors of the abuse of antibiotics, and provide the scientific evidence for developing health education of antibiotics.Methods:The students from two vocational schools in Suzhou were investigated using the cluster sampling method.The investigation content included the profession, grade, cognition of antibiotics, use of antibiotics and purchasing prescription antibiotics.The differences of the cognition and use of antibiotics between two school students were compared by the cognitive scores and percentage of each indicator.Results:Four thousand four hundred and sixty-two effective questionnaires were collected, which included 2543 medical students and 1919 nonmedical students.Among 4462 students, 3621 students(81.2%) prepared for the antibiotic.One thousand and fifteen medical students(40%) and 666 nonmedical students(34.7%) with similar symptom took it by themselves.One thousand one hundred and forty-four medical students(45.0%) and 943 nonmedical students(49.1%) read the instruction carefully before using the antibiotic.Seven hundred and one medical students(27.6%) and 276 nonmedical students(14.4%) knew that the licensed pharmacist must be equipped in community pharmacy according to the state law.One thousand five hundred and sixty-eight medical students(61.7%) and 1063 nonmedical students(55.4%) thought that they were never asked to show the prescription when they bought the antibiotics, the difference between medical student and nonmedical student was statistically significant(P<0.01).Conclusions:The low antibiotic cognition and abuse of antibiotics in vocational students is common.The different cognition of antibiotic between medical student and nonmedical student results from their different knowledge.