Key messages for professionals in hospitals and other healthcare settings
Key messages for professionals working at hospitals and other healthcare settings: managers/administrators, infectious disease specialists, infection prevention and control professionals, epidemiologists, prescribers, junior doctors and students, pharmacists, nurses, clinical microbiologists, and professionals in emergency departments, in intensive care units, and in long-term care facilities.
Learn and apply all antibiotic use and infection prevention and control recommendations that are relevant to your area of specialisation. Remain aware of local antibiotic resistance patterns in your department, your hospital and in the community
Healthcare professionals in hospitals and other healthcare settings
Up to a half of all antibiotic use in European hospitals is unnecessary or inappropriate. Promoting prudent antibiotic use is both a patient safety and a public health priority.
Hospital infectious disease specialists
Infectious disease specialists can support the development and implementation of an antibiotic stewardship programme, as well as promote local guidelines on managing infections.
Hospital managers / administrators
Antibiotic stewardship programmes and infection prevention and control practices, can increase patient safety and quality of care and reduce hospital costs across all services
Infection prevention and control professionals and hospital epidemiologists
Your task is to ensure that the fundamental elements of the hospital infection prevention and control programme are carried out
Key messages for hospital prescribers
Using antibiotic guidance and attending educational rounds improve antibiotic prescribing. Documenting indication, drug choice, dose, route of administration and duration of treatment in the patient chart leads to better use of antibiotics.
Junior doctors and students
Learn and apply all antibiotic use and infection prevention and control recommendations that are relevant to your area of specialisation
Compliance with formulary restrictions as well as pre-approval and post-authorisation requirements for specific antibiotics decreases the use of these antibiotics in intensive care unit settings
You are in a key position to improve antibiotic use by collaborating with the antibiotic stewardship team
Microbiologists can ensure that laboratory testing and antimicrobial susceptibility reporting follow treatment guidelines (including selective reporting), and include relevant comments on interpretation if needed.
Emergency departments: physicians, managers
Professionals in emergency departments should only start antibiotic treatment if there is evidence of a bacterial infection, they should avoid unnecessary antibiotic prophylaxis
Intensive care unit: physicians, managers
ICU professionals should avoid unnecessary antibiotic prophylaxis and ensure that cultures are taken, before starting antibiotics
Long-term care facilities: physician, managers
Clinicians can implement infection prevention measures, always perform a clinical examination of the patient before prescribing an antibiotic, avoid unnecessary antibiotic prophylaxis
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