Antibiotic Stewardship
- In:
Clinical Practice,
Pharma
Panel Discussion: Antibiotic Stewardship Strategies in 2020 by Ted Rosen MD, James Treat MD, and Douglas DiRuggiero DMSC, PA-C
- Antibiotic resistance is on the rise, worldwide, threatening our ability to safely do surgery and treat cancer with chemotherapy.
- Antimicrobial resistance occurs through natural resistance mechanisms (efflux pumps, cell wall impermeability, target gene modification, or via inactivation enzymes) and mobile genetic elements (phage transduction, gene conjugation, and gene transformation). Their ability to adapt and mutate, and pass along survival information to others, allows resistance to outpace new drug development.
- Antibiotic stewardship includes not only being cautious about how much and for how long one prescribes an antibiotic, but starts with accurate diagnoses and more aggressive subsequent treatment of the true etiology.