Twelve health organizations have agreed to work with the CDC and the Pew Charitable Trusts to limit outpatient antibiotic prescribing, according to CIDRAP.
Here are five notes:
1. Nearly 154 million outpatient visits annually result in antibiotic prescriptions.
2. Of these visits, at least 30 percent of these prescriptions are not necessary.
3. The White House released its 2015 National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria, which seeks to truncate inappropriate outpatient antibiotic prescribing in half by 2020.
4. The organizations will help the White House meet its aim by expanding their members' current antibiotic stewardship efforts, while also conducting more research on programs aimed at enhancing prescribing habits. They also vowed to help their members use antibiotics appropriately in outpatient settings.
5. The organizations participating in the effort include:
• American Academy of Emergency Medicine
• American Academy of Family Physicians
• American Association of Nurse Practitioners
• American Academy of Pediatrics
• American Academy of Physician Assistants
• American College of Physicians
• American Medical Association
• Infectious Diseases Society of America
• National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners
• Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society
• Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America
• Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists.
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