Be Antibiotics Aware: Smart Use, Best Care

I work. What I find in my everyday life is that family practice providers are somewhat more up to date on stewardship, but the general public, moms and dads in the burbs, don’t have a clue, and still have the bad habit of going to their doc and demanding an antibiotic for their kids after a couple of days, when clearly they have something viral going on that will clear with time. What is being done about this common theme? Or is this not a big deal?

Educating the public and patients is an important strategy to combat antibiotic resistance and improve antibiotic use. CDC has led educational efforts to improve antibiotic use since 1995. CDC’s Be Antibiotics Aware: Smart Use, Best Care is a national educational effort to help fight antibiotic resistance and improve antibiotic prescribing and use. Additionally, clinicians worry that patients and parents expect antibiotics, and often when clinicians think the patients or parents want antibiotics, they are more likely to prescribe them. However, clinicians are not always good at determining which patients want antibiotics. When antibiotics are not needed, most patients can still be satisfied without antibiotics, even if the patient walks into the office expecting them, if the clinician can effectively communicate the following points. First, review the physical examination findings, particularly what is reassuring. Second, deliver a clear diagnosis. Third, discuss that antibiotics are not needed, and then pair that statement with recommendations on how the patient can feel better. Fourth, discuss when the patient should come back or seek medical care if they aren’t getting better or are getting worse. Communication training for clinicians can help them deliver these messages efficiently in a way that can reduce unnecessary antibiotic use, provide the right quality care, and keep the patients and parents satisfied with their care.

Hello, I wanted to have additional information on what you would recommend as “incentives” for providers to implement antibiotic stewardship policies?

In the example from the American Academy of Pediatrics provided during Dr. Hyun’s talk, the participating clinicians are receiving both continuing medical education and maintenance of certification credit as an incentive to participate in the program. Additionally, measures about appropriate antibiotic use are currently part of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Merit-based Incentive Payment System and implementation of antibiotic stewardship is an improvement activity. For more information, please see http://qpp.cms.govexternal icon.

Katherine Fleming-Dutra, MD, FAAP

Deputy Director
Office of Antibiotic Stewardship
Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention
"The Case for Antibiotic Stewardship"

Jeffrey Linder, MD, MPH, FACP

Chief
Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics
Michael A. Gertz Professor of Medicine
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
"Improving Antibiotic Prescribing for Adults"

David Hyun, MD

Senior Officer
Antibiotic Resistance Project
The Pew Charitable Trusts
"Antibiotic Stewardship Policies"

John Iskander, MD, MPH

Scientific Director

Phoebe Thorpe, MD, MPH

Deputy Scientific Director

Susan Laird, MSN, RN

Communications Director