Key messages for professionals in hospitals and other healthcare settings

information material key messages toolkit material

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.

All prescribers

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

Emergency departments - physicians and managers

Physicians are in an important position to improve antibiotic prescribing in both inpatients and outpatients, since their facility sits at the interface of the hospital and the community.

Clinical microbiologists

Key tasks include: Participating in the antibiotic stewardship team, as a key member of the team; Collaborating with the infectious disease specialist and the hospital pharmacist to implement the antibiotic stewardship programme.

Intensive care unit - physicians and managers

Core tasks to improve the use of antibiotics include following antibiotic treatment protocols, based on evidence-based guidelines...

Long-term care facilities - physician and managers

Core tasks to improve antibiotic use include education of medical and nursing staff, targeting areas where antibiotic misuse is common...

Nurses

Nurses are in a key position to improve antibiotic use by collaborating with the antibiotic stewardship team

Hospital pharmacists

Pharmacists can have multiple roles in the emergency department, including giving real-time feedback and consultation regarding prescribing practices, and identifying drug interactions.

Hospital prescribers

Using antibiotic guidance and attending educational rounds improve antibiotic prescribing.

Junior doctors and students

Consider these messages in addition to those for the specific target groups that relate to your area of specialisation.

What are the key messages and how they will be used?

To support communication activities at national level, ECDC has produced several communication toolkits containing template materials and evidence-based key messages which may be adapted for use at national level.

References

All sources for the key messages for professionals in hospitals and other healthcare settings