Using Antibiotics Wisely to Combat Rising Drug Resistance
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November 13 to 19, 2017 is World Antibiotic Awareness week. I have invited Dr. Shelita Dattani, Director, Practice Development and Knowledge Translation at the Canadian Pharmacists Association, to speak to our audience about antimicrobial resistance and stewardship. The issue is at the forefront of the World Health Organization list of priorities as rising resistance becomes gradually a global phenomenon. Dr. Dattani spoke about how dentists and pharmacists are playing a crucial role in helping solve this issue. We hope you find the interview informative and join our conversation. You can always share your feedback with us on Oasis Discussions or through oasisdiscussions@cda-adc.ca. Bookmark our page and visit us frequently to keep up to date with the latest in the world of dentistry!
Chiraz Guessaier, CDA Oasis Manager |
Highlights
Antibiotic resistance is rising to dangerously high levels in all parts of the world and threatening our ability to treat common infectious diseases. Infections affecting people – including pneumonia, tuberculosis, blood poisoning and gonorrhea – and animals alike are becoming harder, and sometimes impossible, to treat as antibiotics become less effective.
Antibiotics are often over-prescribed by physicians and veterinarians and overused by the public. Where they can be bought for human or animal use without a prescription, the emergence and spread of resistance is made worse.
Pharmacists are central to antimicrobial stewardship. In hospital settings they have data to influence appropriate prescribing at the patient level and are involved in formal programs to influence utilization at the organization level. But most antibiotics are prescribed in the outpatient setting, and community pharmacists have a significant opportunity engage in antimicrobial stewardship activities through education, health promotion and prevention, appropriate prescribing and working closely with prescribers.
CPhA is committed to highlighting the vital role pharmacists play in antimicrobial stewardship and is participating in an AMS Canada Steering Committee; a national multi-stakeholder, multi-sector group led by the National Collaborating Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCCID) and HealthCareCAN. The mandate of this committee is to further develop, scale and spread antimicrobial stewardship best practices across all sectors to battle the global public health problem of antimicrobial resistance.
Full Interview (9.05″)
Does not seem to address at all the widespread covert use of antibiotics in the agriculture industry…not livestock, rather produce, especially the greenhouse production