To-Do Next Week: Get Smart About Antibiotics

Am I Choosing Wisely?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and a league of national and international partners, including the ABIM Foundation, will observe the ninth annual Get Smart About Antibiotics Week on November 14–20, 2016.

According to the CDC, antibiotic use is the single most important contributing factor to antibiotic resistance, and from one-third to one-half of antibiotic use in humans is either unnecessary or inappropriate. Each year in the United States, 47 million unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions are written in doctors’ offices, emergency rooms and hospital-based clinics. The CDC and other organizations have made improving antibiotic use and prescribing a national priority. To combat antibiotic resistance and avoid adverse drug reactions, antibiotics must be used appropriately. This means using them only if needed and, when needed, using them correctly.

Several of the Choosing Wisely society recommendations address antibiotic use.

The following free resources help clinicians and patients engage in informed conversations about when antibiotics may not be needed:

• Antibiotics – When You Need Them and When You Don’t – Patient-friendly information on when antibiotics are – and are not – appropriate from Consumer Reports based on specialty society recommendations
• Choosing Wisely Society Recommendations – Choosing Wisely specialty society partners have collectively published nearly 40 recommendations aimed at educating clinicians when antibiotics may not be necessary
• Conversations For Health – A series of interactive simulations funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) designed to help improve physician–patient communication. The Primary Care Office Tool: Antibiotics simulation allows the user to engage in practice conversations about the overuse of antibiotics.
• Physician Communication Modules – A series of interactive instructional modules, developed in partnership with the Drexel University College of Medicine, to enhance physician and patient communication around specialty society recommendations from the Choosing Wisely campaign, including when antibiotics should or should not be prescribed

In addition, the Choosing Wisely grantees, with support from RWJF, are focused on reducing utilization of inappropriate tests and treatments, including antibiotics. Each initiative includes delivery systems, hospitals and/or medical groups collaborating with multi-stakeholder community-based groups and physician-led organizations.

Ways to Participate:

• Thursday, November 17, at 4 p.m. ET/3 p.m. CT/2 p.m. MT/1 p.m. PT: Join the Choosing Wisely Learning Network for a Get Smart About Antibiotics Week webinar on the Effect of Behavioral Interventions on Inappropriate Antibiotic Prescribing Among Primary Care Practices. Dr. Jason Doctor is an Associate Professor in the School of Pharmacy and the Director of Health Informatics at the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics at the University of Southern California. He will be discussing his recent paper.

• To access the webinar:  http://abimf.adobeconnect.com/choosingwisely/
• To access the webinar audio: Toll Free # 855.234.6506 | Access Code: 8582599

Check out the CDC activities including:

• Monday, November 14, at 1p.m. ET: Get Smart Week Thunderclap: Participate from your Facebook and Twitter Profiles! Join with the link http://thndr.me/B6puNT.
• Tuesday, November 15, at 1–2 p.m. ET: Join the CDC for their GetSmart Week webinar on CDC’s Core Elements of Outpatient Antibiotic Stewardship Pre-register at no cost, and view additional details at https://cc.readytalk.com/r/bzt89rm0ewrr&eom

• Follow the conversation on social media: Follow the hashtag #AntibioticResistance and join the all-day Twitter chat Friday, November 18, 2016. CDC will be participating from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. EDT.

Antibiotics In The News

Blogs, Issue Briefs, Opinion Pieces and more…

• HHS Blog: Making Progress on Combating Antibiotic Resistance
• AHRQ: AHRQ Funding Available for Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Research
• CDC: CDC funds innovations to combat antibiotic resistance, understand the microbiome
• Safe Healthcare Blog: New Study Shows Many Patients Not Receiving Right Type of Antibiotics
• American Academy of Family Physicians: AAFP Joins CDC, Other Groups in Fighting Antibiotic Resistance
• NEJM Journal Watch: Hospital Patients at Greater Risk for diff If Prior Bed Occupant Took Antibiotics

Journals

• Effect of Behavioral Interventions on Inappropriate Antibiotic Prescribing Among Primary Care Practices A Randomized Clinical Trial. D Meeker; JA Linder; CR Fox et al. JAMA. 2016;315(6):562-570.
• The Role of Antimicrobial Stewardship in the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory: Stepping Up to the Plate. SH MacVane, JM Hurst, LL Steed – Open Forum Infectious Diseases, 2016.
• Choosing antibiotics wisely A Care, F Prevention

• Frequency of First-line Antibiotic Selection Among US Ambulatory Care Visits for Otitis Media, Sinusitis, and Pharyngitis. Adam L. Hersh, MD, PhD; Katherine E. Fleming-Dutra, MD; Daniel J. Shapiro, MD; et al. JAMA Intern Med. Published online October 24, 2016.

Media Coverage

• Consumer Reports: When to Say No to Antibiotics for Infection
• Medscape: Use of Broad-Spectrum Antibiotics Rising
• Medscape: Antibiotics: 5 Myths Debunked
• ABC News: Combating Antibiotic Resistance News
• US News & World Report: Health Tip: Prevent Antibiotic Resistance | Health Care
• HealthDay News: CDC: Too Many Antibiotics Still Being Prescribed in U.S.