Antimicrobial Stewardship (AMS) resources and links
A range of Australian and international resources are available to support to improve Antimicrobial Stewardship (AMS) in health service organisations and other sectors, to improve patient safety.
Commission resources
The Commission's AMS resources include:
- Antimicrobial Stewardship Clinical Care Standard
- Shared Decision Making – Patient Decision Aids for Antibiotic Use
- Antibiotic Awareness Week Resources
- National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards
- Antimicrobial Use and Resistance in Australia Surveillance System
The Commission has also worked with a number of other agencies to develop the following AMS resources:
- National Antimicrobial Prescribing Survey (NAPS)
- National Antimicrobial Usage Surveillance Program (NAUSP)
- NPS Medicinewise – Antimicrobial prescribing courses
Commission AMS Videos
Principles of Antibiotic Pharmacotherapy
Caroline Chen is an Antimicrobial Pharmacist at Melbourne Health, and a member of the Melbourne Health/NH&MRC Antimicrobial Stewardship research team and National Antimicrobial Prescribing Survey (NAPS) coordinating team. In this presentation, Caroline outlines different classes of commonly used antibiotics, their spectrum of activity and issues to consider when prescribing and administering these commonly used agents. The presentation acknowledges that antibiotics can be a difficult class of drugs to understand, and the importance of utilising the latest version of Therapeutic Guidelines: Antibiotic or local endorsed antibiotic prescribing guidelines, to support appropriate use of these commonly used medicines.
The primary target audience for this presentation is clinicians. In particular, new prescribers and pharmacists will find the information useful to their practice.
Part one: Introduction to Antibiotic Therapy
Part one introduces the viewer to some general principles of antibiotic therapy, basic pharmacokinetics, as well as outlining some important aspects of the patient’s clinical condition to be considered when administering antibiotics.
Part two: The Antibiotics
In part two, the spectrum of activity of beta-lactams – penicillins, cephalosporins, and carbapenems is discussed. Issues relating to penicillin allergies are also considered.
Part three: Other Antibiotics
In the third and final part of “Principles of Antibiotic Pharmacotherapy” some of the other commonly used antibiotics are discussed, including the aminoglycoside antibiotics.
Australian resources and links
The links below provide information on Australian AMS and infection prevention and control work.
Disclaimer: These links are provided for convenience only and should not be construed as an endorsement by the Commonwealth of Australia; conversely omissions should not be construed as non-endorsement.
- National Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy
- Communicable Diseases Network Australia
- Australian Group on Antimicrobial Resistance
- Australasian Society for Infectious Disease
- Australian Society of Antimicrobials
- Therapeutic Guidelines: Antibiotic
International resources and links
The links below provide information on AMS and infection prevention and control work from around the world.
Disclaimer: These links are provided for convenience only and should not be construed as an endorsement by the Commonwealth of Australia; conversely omissions should not be construed as non-endorsement.
- World Health Organization – Antimicrobial Resistance
- Centers for Disease Prevention and Control – Antibiotic Prescribing and Use
- Public Health England – Antimicrobial resistance
- NICE – Antimicrobial Stewardship
- Scottish Antimicrobial Prescribing Group
- Video - Why is Antimicrobial Stewardship important?
- Video - What do we do when antibiotics don’t work anymore?