'Personal responsibility' for educating public on antibiotics needed - royal colleges
Healthcare professionals must "take a radical new approach" to tackling antibiotic resistance if the drugs are to work in the future, new guidance advises
|
Healthcare professionals must take a "radical new approach" to antibiotics use if the drugs are to combat serious diseases in the future, royal colleges have warned. Frontline health workers must resist pressure to give out unnecessary antibiotics prescriptions and inform patients of alternatives, said joint guidance issued by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS), Royal College of GPs (RCGP), the Royal College of Nurses (RCN) and the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) on Monday (July 7). The organisations also called on healthcare professionals to take "personal responsibility" for educating patients on the dangers of overuse. They called for a minimum dosage for antibiotics and better monitoring of prescriptions for antibiotics. The guidance highlighted that veterinary and agricultural use of antibiotics should be tackled at the same time because it was driving human resistance. The report emphasised the need for action at an international level, such as reinvigorating the development of alternatives to antibiotics and improving the prevention of infectious diseases in developing countries through vaccination programmes. Public health professionals will meet at a national summit on November 6 to look at how they can work with patients to combat antibiotic resistance. The RPS said pharmacists could help patients treat the symptoms of minor infections without the need for antibiotics. Phil Howard, consultant pharmacist at RPS, said it was important to "develop a culture of self-care", in which antibiotics were used only as a last resort for treating serious infections. RCGP chair Maureen Baker branded it "imperative" that doctors, nurses and pharmacists started talking about alternatives to antibiotics with patients. "We have developed a worrying reliance on them and many patients now see them as a cure-all, even for minor symptoms," she said. In November, health experts called on pharmacists to challenge patients' use of antibiotics.
|
||||||
