World Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2021

We asked Firstline Community leaders to share their insights for World Antimicrobial Awareness Week. See what they had to say and join them in conversation in Firstline Community.

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Q1. Why is antimicrobial stewardship and antibiotic awareness so important?

We need to protect antibiotics for our future generations so they may benefit from the miracle drugs we use in practice today. - Timothy Gauthier, Pharm.D., BCPS, BCIDP
Antibiotics should be stewarded by everyone who prescribes them or uses them. It's everyone's job. Awareness is a crucial first step in fighting AMR. - Brad Langford
Simple and small changes to prescribing practices can have significant benefits in health outcomes for patients (fewer drug side effects and CDI) - Jennifer Macmillan
Every pharmacist who graduates will likely have an opportunity to provide antimicrobial stewardship services to their patients. Preparing the next generation is critical. - Christopher M. Bland
Antimicrobial stewardship is about hitting the sweet spot by balancing therapeutic needs while minimizing harm to the individual as well as their community. - Elizabeth Parfitt
Because microorganisms are perpetually evolving and we are running out of options! - Matt Davis
Our good bacteria live with us & help us survive. If not truly infected, it’s important to avoid unnecessary antibiotics & keep your good bugs! - Julie Ann Justo
Antimicrobials changed the face of medicine. Millions of lives have been saved. We can't go back to a world where people die of curable infections! - Vindana Chibabhai
To limit the development of resistance so that we can continue to use antimicrobials in the future to treat both humans and animals and safeguard our food supply - Murray Gillies
Along with climate change, structural racism, gun violence, and the pandemic, AMR is THE public health crisis of our lifetimes - Priya Nori

Q2. Tell us about your favorite stewardship moment.

Anytime you are able to remove a patient's penicillin allergy, you know they will get superior therapy that is in most circumstances less costly and less toxic. - Christopher M. Bland
Every time an antibiotic is appropriately not prescribed for asymptomatic bacteriuria is a happy stewardship moment. - Brad Langford
When you hear your colleagues speaking the stewardship language and you know your team has played a role in culture change in ways that are hard to measure. - Elizabeth Parfitt
When and information newsletter we distributed resulted in conversation with a physician to develop a new initiative to tackle antibiotic allergy labels. - Andrea Kent
My favorite stewardship moments involve working with the team to create a patient-centered regimen where the patient feels comfortable and empowered. Education is key! - Jillian Hayes
My favourite moment is when I see how our ASP practices rub off on other health care providers and they perform stewardship themselves (sometimes without even realizing it!) - Ryan Kerzner
When you help a learner understand a fundamental stewardship concept, like spectrum of activity - Priya Nori

Q3. What stewardship challenge are you working on now?

Since education is rarely sufficient on its own, I am interested in how behavioral science and nudging can help us improve antimicrobial stewardship. - Brad Langford
Reducing the use of broad spectrum antibiotics to few well defined situations - Bernasconi Enos
How will be incorporate oral anti-SARS-CoV-2 therapies into the outpatient stewardship paradigm? - Priya Nori
We are working on increasing IV to oral conversion, remdesivir stewardship, and duration-based initiatives in commonly encountered disease states. - Jillian Hayes
Providing decision support tools to producers to better help them judiciously use antimicrobial products in their agricultural operations - Murray Gillies
Establishing a robust antimicrobial stewardship program across a large healthcare system's continuum of care during COVID times. - Timothy Gauthier, Pharm.D., BCPS, BCIDP
Multi-drug resistant gram-negative bacterial infections are keeping me very busy! - Matt Davis

Check out what the ID community
had to say for WAAW 2020