U.S Antibiotic Awareness Week kicks off tomorrow (November 18th) and runs through November 24th.
Antibiotic Awareness Week is an annual one-week observance where we focus on raising awareness about the appropriate use of antibiotics to reduce antibiotic resistance. Join the OctariusRx team in support of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) campaign to Be Antibiotic Aware.
Below we include information on protecting patients and steps you can take to decrease antibiotic resistance. At OctariusRx we are proud to partner with the CDC and work diligently all year to help enhance antibiotic stewardship and improve patient safety.
Be Antibiotics Aware: Protect your patients
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is urging healthcare professionals to prescribe antibiotics only when necessary to help fight antibiotic resistance and the spread of superbugs and to protect their patients from antibiotic-related adverse drug events. During U.S. Antibiotic Awareness Week and throughout the year, CDC promotes Be Antibiotics Aware, an educational effort to raise awareness about the importance of safe antibiotic prescribing and use.
The Be Antibiotics Aware initiative provides resources to help improve antibiotic prescribing among healthcare professionals and use among consumers.
CDC’s Be Antibiotics Aware educational effort encourages healthcare professionals to:
- Only prescribe antibiotics when they are clinically indicated. Antibiotics are only needed to treat certain infections caused by bacteria, not viruses like SARS-CoV-2. You can do harm by prescribing antibiotics when they are not needed.
- Follow clinical guidelines on how best to evaluate and treat infections.
- Optimizing the use of diagnostic tests is critical for improving treatment of conditions like sepsis and stopping the spread of infections, including those caused by SARS-CoV-2.
- Always prescribe the right antibiotic, at the right dose, for the right duration, and at the right time.
- Using the shortest effective duration of antibiotic therapy is a key antibiotic stewardship strategy in all health care settings. The goal is to optimize the treatment of the infection while minimizing the risks of side effects from antibiotics and antibiotic resistance.
- Only prescribe antibiotics when they are needed. You can do harm by prescribing antibiotics that aren’t needed.
- Tell your patients why they don’t need antibiotics for a viral respiratory infection, what to do to feel better, and when to seek care again if they don’t feel better.
- Talk to your patients and their families about possible harms from antibiotics, such as allergic reactions, C. difficile, and antibiotic-resistant infections.
- Educate your patients and their families to recognize the signs and symptoms of worsening infection and sepsis, and to know when to seek medical care.
- If sepsis is suspected, gather patient information and immediately communicate it to hospital healthcare professionals. Antibiotics should be started as soon as possible when sepsis is suspected.
Be Antibiotics Aware has resources to help healthcare professionals (in outpatient and inpatient settings) educate patients and families about antibiotic use and risks for potential side effects. For more information, visit: https://www.cdc.gov/antibiotic-use/?s_cid=NCEZID-AntibioticUse-005.
At OctariusRx we are always working to enhance patient safety. This week we focus on proper antibiotic use. We hope you will join us this week in paying extra attention to this important topic but remember that keeping patients safe requires year-round antibiotic stewardship. If you have questions about this or any other medication management topics, please reach out to us.
The Consultant Pharmacists at OctariusRx provide guidance on safe medication management, survey readiness and cost savings to ambulatory healthcare facilities/surgery centers, senior care facilities and pharmacies. We also help individual patients optimize their medications to improve their quality of life and save money. Contact us for assistance.
