A campaign that specifically targets hospital-based clinicians to address the growing problem of antibiotic-resistant infections is being launched by the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM).
The “Fight the Resistance” campaign officially launches on Tuesday, Nov. 10 with a webinar featuring Dr. Scott A. Flanders, professor of medicine and director of the hospitalist program at the University of Michigan, and Dr. Melhim Bou Alwan, chair of the antimicrobial stewardship committee at West Georgia Health. Physicians can register to join the webinar. SHM is also offering downloadable posters on the dedicated campaign website – www.fighttheresistance.org – and encouraging hospital-based staff to display the posters in high-traffic areas of their institutions.
The SHM committed to the campaign at a White House forum on antibiotic stewardship in June 2015. The campaign is in conjunction with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s “Get Smart About Antibiotics Week,” which is Nov.16-22.
Hospital-based staff are encouraged to work as a team, paying attention to appropriate antibiotic choice and rethinking antibiotic treatment time course, Dr. Eric Howell, SHM senior physician advisor, notes at the new website. Downloading the posters from the website and displaying them in their hospitals is one way to focus on that goal.
Two million people become infected each year with antibiotic-resistant bacteria and at least 23,000 people die as a direct result of these infections, according to the SHM. The organization hopes Fight the Resistance helps to promote culture change in U.S. hospitals that sharply reduces antibiotic overprescribing.
For more information on “Fight the Resistance,” visit the campaign website and follow the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #FightTheResistance.
On Twitter @richpizzi