Antimicrobial resistance, antibiotic stewardship, and the midwife's role

Antibiotic Stewardship Initiatives as Part of the UK 5-Year Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy.

Antibiotic use is a major driver for the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance. Antimicrobial stewardship programmes aim to improve antibiotic prescribing with the objectives of optimizing clinical outcomes while at the same time minimizing unintended consequences such as adverse effects and the selection of antibiotic resistance. In 2013, a five-year national strategy for tackling anti...

Antimicrobial stewardship: the role of scientists?

We continue to be warned about the risk of antibiotic resistance. This campaign has targeted medicine and agriculture, asking these industries to pay attention to the risks of widespread resistance and to cut the use of antibiotics wherever possible. However, there has been little to no mention of the widespread use of antibiotics in the scientific research community. As scientists we use antib...

Antimicrobial stewardship: optimizing antibiotic use in an era of increasing resistance and rising costs.

Program Description With antimicrobial resistance on the rise and very few new pharmaceutical agents in development, a well-managed antimicrobial stewardship program in the hospital becomes the first-line defense against the emergence of resistance and provides not only a cost-containment measure but also ensures the continued efficacy of available antimicrobials. A successful stewardship progr...

START (Stewardship Tactics for Antimicrobial Resistance Trends)

BACKGROUND: Among infectious diseases, community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is the leading cause of death in the United States and is associated with a substantial economic burden to the health care system. Initiating appropriate empiric therapy can be challenging given elevated resistance rates among Streptococcus pneumoniae strains. OBJECTIVE: To present current recommendations for management o...

Antibiotic Utilization and Antimicrobial Stewardship in Community Hospitals