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11/12/18 JE -- U.S. Antibiotic Awareness Week
From: Jonathan Edwards
Sent: Monday, November 12, 2018 11:53:11 AM
Subject: Fwd: U.S. Antibiotic Awareness Week
Hello Everyone,
I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! I wanted to remind you all that this week is U.S. Antibiotic Awareness Week. Collectively institutions and organizations across the United States are using this opportunity to highlight the importance of improving antibiotic use to combat antimicrobial resistance. Over 60% of hospitalized patients are ordered an antimicrobial during their stay, and across all outpatient healthcare platforms over 258 million courses of antibiotics are prescribed annually. That is 833 persons out of every 1000 in the United States receive an antimicrobial each year! It is estimated that at least 50% of these prescriptions are inappropriate in dose, duration, or drug. We as pharmacists are very well poised to aid in stemming the tide of inappropriate antimicrobial use. Some strategies at Huntsville Hospital include:
- Following hospital formulary restriction or substitution protocols designed to encourage appropriate use of antimicrobials
- Utilizing Sentri-7 prompts to recommend de-escalation, IV-PO conversion, escalation, renal dose adjustment, or change of antimicrobial as appropriate
- Educating providers on approved protocols involving antimicrobial use
- Contact your infectious disease pharmacy specialist with any questions or concerns you may have regarding an antimicrobial order
There are an abundance of resources available for you review on the CDC.gov website regarding U.S. Antibiotic Awareness Week. One recommended resource for familiarizing yourself with the antimicrobial resistance threat and current state of affairs regarding appropriate antimicrobial use is the document titled Antibiotic Use in the United States 2017: Progress and Opportunities.
(Press Ctrl + click on the link to access)
Thank you all for your hard work. Feel free to contact myself or Jonathan Edwards with any questions or concerns you may have regarding antimicrobial use or policies/protocols effecting antimicrobial use.
Sincerely,
Philip Logan Whitfield, PharmD
PGY2 Infectious Disease Pharmacy Resident Huntsville Hospital