New antibiotic use summary to help tackle antimicrobial resistance

The move comes as part of a broader shift to tackle antimicrobial resistance in primary care, amid concerns that some general practice clinics do not have access to the guidelines.
 
The summary table from the recently updated 16th edition of Antibiotic Guidelines covers the management of common infections seen by GPs, and flags overused antibiotics such as amoxicillin and clavulanate, cefalexin, cefaclor, roxithromycin and erythromycin.
 
Therapeutic Guidelines CEO Leigh-Anne Claase told newsGP the document summarises their antibiotic guidelines.
 
‘We thought it would be really useful to distribute to a wider audience,’ she said.
 
‘Given the magnitude of the problem of antimicrobial resistance, it will take a community effort to resolve it and we are working with the RACGP, among other organisations, to the get the word out.’
 
GP and University of Melbourne primary care researcher Dr Jo-Anne Manski-Nankervis recently told Pursuit that up to a quarter of GP clinics do not have access to the Therapeutic Guidelines, which require an annual membership.
 
‘The RACGP Standards indicate that the use of guidelines, like the Therapeutic Guidelines, is considered standard practice. But in one of our pilot studies, one quarter of practices didn’t have access to them,’ she said.
 
‘Any barriers to their accessibility and use must be explored and remedied.’
 
Antibiotic prescribing by GPs fell this year for the third year running, after an earlier spike between 2013 and 2015. Hospital antibiotic use increased for the first time since 2013.
 
Australia began a national surveillance program on antimicrobial use and resistance in 2015.
 
In 2017, two fifths of all Australians had at least one systemic antibiotic dispensed, with around half of all prescriptions ordered with repeats.

antibiotics antimicrobial guidelines resistance therapeutic