Background Many countries are on the brink of establishing antibiotic stewardship programmes in hospitals nationwide. In a previous study we found that communication between microbiology laboratories and clinical units is a barrier to implementing efficient antibiotic stewardship programmes in Norway. We have now addressed the key communication barriers between microbiology laboratories and cli...

TO THE EDITOR—We commend Dr Abbo and colleagues for their study, which highlights the need to standardize and enhance appropriate antimicrobial prescribing and stewardship curricula in US medical student education [1]. Ninety percent of surveyed fourth-year medical students felt that they would like more education on the appropriate use of antimicrobials; only one-third felt adequately prepared...

Biomarkers of infection, namely C-reactive protein and procalcitonin (PCT), are potentially useful in the diagnosis of infection as well as in the assessment of its response to antibiotic therapy. C-reactive protein variations overtime appears to have a good performance for the diagnosis of infection. Procalcitonin shows a better correlation with clinical severity. In addition, to overcome the ...

IMPORTANCE Antimicrobial stewardship programs have been effective for inpatients, often through prescribing audit and feedback. However, most antimicrobial use occurs in outpatients with acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs). OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of an antimicrobial stewardship intervention on antibiotic prescribing for pediatric outpatients. DESIGN Cluster randomized trial...

BACKGROUND The aim of this paper was to describe and analyze the effect of antibiotic policy changes on antibiotic consumption in Swedish hospitals and to review antibiotic stewardship in Swedish hospitals. RESULTS The main findings were: 1) Antibiotic consumption has significantly increased in Swedish hospitals over the last decade. The consumption of cephalosporins has decreased, whereas th...

Overuse of antibiotic agents has garnered national attention. Unnecessary use of antibiotics can cause serious side effectsdeven death due to antibiotic-resistant bacteriadand a host of public health concerns. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that approximately half of all prescriptions for antibiotic agents written in the United States are either unnecessary or used...