Why is Antibiotic Stewardship and Antimicrobial Stewardship Important?

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Table of Contents

  1. What is Antibiotic Stewardship and Antimicrobial Stewardship
  2. Antibiotic Stewardship Program and Antimicrobial Stewardship NICE
  3. Antibiotic Stewardship Goals
  4. Antimicrobial Stewardship Goals

What is Antibiotic Stewardship and Antimicrobial Stewardship?

What is Antibiotic Stewardship?

Antibiotic stewardship is the effort to measure and improve how antibiotics are prescribed by clinicians and used by patients.

What is Antimicrobial Stewardship?

Antimicrobial stewardship meaning – it is a multidisciplinary team approach to developing and implementing effective ways to dispose of, utilize and prescribe antimicrobials and antibiotics across healthcare systems.

With antimicrobial resistance and antibiotic resistance becoming more widespread globally, it is important to adopt and implement an antibiotic stewardship program along with an antimicrobial stewardship action plan for the sustainability of a healthcare system and for overall disease control and disease prevention.

Antimicrobial stewardship and antibiotic stewardship are critical factors in analyzing healthcare epidemiology trends and can highlight antibiotic resistance patterns for a more targeted approach against current and emerging infectious diseases and overall disease prevention.

Aiming to optimise antibiotic prescribing should reduce the increase of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which could harm public health.

Antibiotic Stewardship Program and Antimicrobial Stewardship NICE

An Antibiotic stewardship program aims to improve antibiotic prescribing by improving clinical and patient outcomes positively contributing towards medicines safety whilst negating consequences such as adverse effects when selecting and prescribing antibiotics within certain clinical scenarios.

Core elements of such programs promote unnecessary antibiotic prescribing and antimicrobial therapy by educating patients in relation to infectious diseases and antimicrobial use and the dangers of resistant bacteria, to improve patient safety and overall improved patient outcomes

NICE guidelines have been published covering NICE antimicrobial stewardship, highlighting the safe, effective, and appropriate use of antibiotics and antimicrobials across all patient populations.”

Since its publication in 2015, the guidance actively aims to change prescribing of such therapies to decrease the emergence of antimicrobial resistance and ensure that antimicrobials remain an effective solution to treat infections for all patients across society.

As a Clinical Pharmacist with first-hand prior experience of remote prescribing antibiotics in an out-of-hours setting, I was certainly mindful of the guidance and tried to implement this by limiting antimicrobial use only when clinically necessary to reduce chances of antimicrobial resistance and promoting antimicrobial stewardship to ultimately make a positive impact to patient care for the longer term.

Antibiotic stewardship goals consist of the following;

The goals of antibiotic stewardship can vary but the following five goals are often considered paramount:

  • Improving Patient Outcomes: Ensuring that patients receive the right antibiotic, at the right dose, and for the right duration, to enhance the effectiveness of treatment and reduce complications.
  • Reducing Antibiotic Resistance: Minimizing the overuse and misuse of antibiotics to slow the development of resistant bacteria, preserving the effectiveness of existing antibiotics.
  • Minimizing Adverse Effects: Reducing the risk of side effects, including allergic reactions and secondary infections like Clostridioides difficile, by promoting appropriate antibiotic use.
  • Decreasing Healthcare Costs: Optimizing antibiotic use to reduce unnecessary expenditures related to treatment failures, adverse effects, and the need to treat resistant infections.
  • Enhancing Infection Control: Working in conjunction with infection control programs to prevent the spread of infections within healthcare facilities, thereby reducing the need for antibiotics.

These five goals encapsulate the core objectives of antibiotic stewardship, focusing on patient well-being, the long-term efficacy of antibiotics, cost-effectiveness, and broader public health concerns. Organizations might prioritize these goals differently or include additional goals based on their specific needs and challenges.

Antimicrobial stewardship goals consist of the following;
  • Audit, intervention and feedback in relation to antibiotic prescribing
  • National and local formulary adoption and implementation
  • Optimal use of antibiotics when clinically appropriate

Antimicrobial stewardship and antimicrobial stewardship vary based on locality however, it should be driven by focusing on improving patient safety and overall quality improvement across various healthcare settings by carefully monitoring antimicrobial use and careful antibiotic selection prior to prescribing.

Evidence suggests that actively engaging prescribing clinicians through education, prescribing data audits and feedback, along with sharing best practices and educating patients, are key to the success of an antimicrobial stewardship and antibiotic stewardship programme.

This will ensure the world of tomorrow is not compromised by potential resistance of such therapies and will help us to combat antibiotic resistance.

Antibiotic stewardship is crucial for controlling the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and ensuring effective treatment for future generations. Our team at Core Prescribing Solutions is dedicated to implementing robust antimicrobial stewardship UK programs that promote the responsible use of antibiotics in healthcare settings.”

Adeem Azhar

Adeem Azhar

Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Fervent about healthcare, technology and making a human difference.

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