Antibiotic-resistant bacteria have become an everyday occurrence and problem in hospitals across Europe. Misuse of antibiotics may cause patients to become colonised or infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, such as meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) and highly-resistant Gram-negative bacilli (2-3).
While the number of infections due to antibiotic-resistant bacteria is growing, the pipeline of new antibiotics is unpromising, thus presenting a bleak outlook on availability of effective antibiotic treatment in the future.
These key messages were developed as part of a toolkit aimed at promoting prudent use of antibiotics in hospitals and other healthcare settings through dissemination of evidence-based educational and information materials.
Wrong or incorrect use of antibiotics may cause the bacteria to become resistant against future treatments. Always seek your doctor’s advice before taking antibiotics.
Antibiotic stewardship programmes, together with infection prevention and control practices, can increase patient safety and quality of care and reduce hospital costs across all services by improving how antibiotics are used, as well as by decreasing C. difficile infections and other adverse events
If we take antibiotics repeatedly and improperly, we contribute to the increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria, one of the world’s most pressing health problems.
Infectious disease specialists can support the development and implementation of an antibiotic stewardship programme, promote local guidelines on managing infections, regularly train hospital prescribers on prudent antibiotic use and using antibiotics.
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.
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.