Existing guidance on the management of some infections may be too long and complex for many doctors to have time to absorb, according to the Healthcare-Associated Infections Working Group at the Royal College of Physicians.
Antibiotics are essential to modern medicine and may be life-saving, but their abuse leads to resistance. All physicians who prescribe antibiotics have a responsibility to their patients and for public health to prescribe optimally.
To help with this, the working group has produced a handy one-page summary of guidelines to help busy doctors identify what is most important for them in their routine clinical practice.
Professor Jon Friedland, chair of the group, said: “Antibiotics are essential to modern medicine and may be life-saving, but their abuse leads to resistance.
“Doctors are ideally placed to take the lead on managing infection control promoting best practice, sharing knowledge and ensuring that the understanding of infection and antibiotic prescribing are a mandatory part of training.”
Here are the ten tips:
1. Institute antibiotic treatment immediately in patients with life-threatening infection.
2. Prescribe in accordance with local policies and guidelines avoiding broad spectrum agents.
3. Document in clinical notes indication(s) for antibiotic prescription.
4. Send appropriate specimens to the microbiology lab, draining pus and removing foreign bodies if indicated.
5. Use antimicrobial susceptibility data to de-escalate/substitute/add agents and to switch from intravenous to oral therapy.
6. Prescribe the shortest antibiotic course likely to be effective.
7. Always select agents to minimise collateral damage (i.e. selection of multi-resistant bacteria/Clostridium difficile).
8. Monitor antibiotic drug levels when relevant (e.g. vancomycin).
9. Use single dose antibiotic prophylaxis wherever possible.
10. Consult your local infection experts.
Read the full guidance.
Tags: Antibiotics
