On November 8, we had the pleasure of hosting leading national clinicians and researchers working to minimise impact of antimicrobial resistance - AMR.
220 delegates gathered at the dual venues of the RBWH Conference and Education Centre and the UQ's Centre for Clinical Research, to hear from leading infectious diseases specialists, veterinarians, nurses, pharmacists, scientists and epidemiologists, among others.
Queensland's Chief Health Officer, Dr Jeannette Young, presented on the soon to be published State AMR Strategy and outlined the national and multi-disciplinary context of the problem of AMR.
Our international guest and keynote speaker, Professor Sara Cosgrove, eloquently outlined the types of antibiotic stewardship interventions used across the United States that have led to improvements in antibiotic use. In collaboration with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Professor Cosgrove was instrumental in producing a series of excellent resources containing materials to develop and improve antibiotic stewardship programs and engage frontline staff in improving prescribing behaviour.
The AHRQ tookit is live and can be accessed via the following link - https://www.ahrq.gov/antibiotic-use/index.html
Professor Cosgrove suggested that health care systems need to be prepared for the long haul when it comes to combating AMR and asserted that the antibiotic stewardship programs need to be coupled with infection prevention interventions and span all areas of patient care - inpatient and outpatient context.
You can watch most of the talks from the Forum right here.
