Self-assessment of antimicrobial stewardship in primary care: Self-reported practice using the TARGET primary care self-assessment tool
Self-assessment of antimicrobial stewardship in primary care: Self-reported practice using the TARGET primary care self-assessment tool
Multifaceted antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) interventions including: antibiotic guidance, reviews of antibiotic use using audits, education, patient facing materials, and self-assessment, are successful in improving antimicrobial use. We aimed to measure the self-reported AMS activity of staff completing a self-assessment tool (SAT). The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP)/Public Health England (PHE) SAT enables participants considering an AMS eLearning course to answer 12 short questions about their AMS activities. Questions cover guidance, audit, and reflection about antibiotic use, patient facing materials, and education. Responses are recorded digitally. Data were collated, anonymised, and exported into Microsoft Excel. Between November 2014 and June 2016, 1415 users completed the SAT. Ninety eight percent reported that they used antibiotic guidance for treating common infections and 63% knew this was available to all prescribers. Ninety four percent of GP respondents reported having used delayed prescribing when appropriate, 25% were not using Read codes, and 62% reported undertaking a practice-wide antibiotic audit in the last two years, of which, 77% developed an audit action plan. Twenty nine percent had undertaken other antibiotic-related clinical courses. Fifty six percent reported sharing patient leaflets covering infection. Many prescribers reported undertaking a range of AMS activities. GP practice managers should ensure that all clinicians have access to prescribing guidance. Antibiotic audits should be encouraged to enable GP staff to understand their prescribing behaviour and address gaps in good practice. Prescribers are not making full use of antibiotic prescribing-related training opportunities. Read coding facilitates more accurate auditing and its use by all clinicians should be encouraged.
Antimicrobial resistance, Antimicrobial stewardship, General practice, Primary care, Self-assessment, TARGET
Owens, Rebecca
384bbfa3-c233-49cf-a755-e23d9df5850e
Jones, Leah Ffion
72ab5964-52a6-416e-adee-34ef97cf2724
Moore, Michael
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Pilat, Dirk
183fbf80-e256-4e64-879c-0c47bbeb7cda
McNulty, Cliodna
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Owens, Rebecca
384bbfa3-c233-49cf-a755-e23d9df5850e
Jones, Leah Ffion
72ab5964-52a6-416e-adee-34ef97cf2724
Moore, Michael
1be81dad-7120-45f0-bbed-f3b0cc0cfe99
Pilat, Dirk
183fbf80-e256-4e64-879c-0c47bbeb7cda
McNulty, Cliodna
212425d9-06ca-4ef8-9982-1acbd579c8ee
Owens, Rebecca, Jones, Leah Ffion, Moore, Michael, Pilat, Dirk and McNulty, Cliodna
(2017)
Self-assessment of antimicrobial stewardship in primary care: Self-reported practice using the TARGET primary care self-assessment tool.
Antibiotics, 6 (3), [16].
(doi:10.3390/antibiotics6030016).
Abstract
Multifaceted antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) interventions including: antibiotic guidance, reviews of antibiotic use using audits, education, patient facing materials, and self-assessment, are successful in improving antimicrobial use. We aimed to measure the self-reported AMS activity of staff completing a self-assessment tool (SAT). The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP)/Public Health England (PHE) SAT enables participants considering an AMS eLearning course to answer 12 short questions about their AMS activities. Questions cover guidance, audit, and reflection about antibiotic use, patient facing materials, and education. Responses are recorded digitally. Data were collated, anonymised, and exported into Microsoft Excel. Between November 2014 and June 2016, 1415 users completed the SAT. Ninety eight percent reported that they used antibiotic guidance for treating common infections and 63% knew this was available to all prescribers. Ninety four percent of GP respondents reported having used delayed prescribing when appropriate, 25% were not using Read codes, and 62% reported undertaking a practice-wide antibiotic audit in the last two years, of which, 77% developed an audit action plan. Twenty nine percent had undertaken other antibiotic-related clinical courses. Fifty six percent reported sharing patient leaflets covering infection. Many prescribers reported undertaking a range of AMS activities. GP practice managers should ensure that all clinicians have access to prescribing guidance. Antibiotic audits should be encouraged to enable GP staff to understand their prescribing behaviour and address gaps in good practice. Prescribers are not making full use of antibiotic prescribing-related training opportunities. Read coding facilitates more accurate auditing and its use by all clinicians should be encouraged.
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antibiotics-06-00016
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Accepted/In Press date: 11 August 2017
e-pub ahead of print date: 16 August 2017
Keywords:
Antimicrobial resistance, Antimicrobial stewardship, General practice, Primary care, Self-assessment, TARGET
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Local EPrints ID: 415602
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/415602
PURE UUID: f1075852-20f4-4f4f-bfe4-ab5dd9b49792
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Date deposited: 16 Nov 2017 17:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 03:43
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Contributors
Author:
Rebecca Owens
Author:
Leah Ffion Jones
Author:
Dirk Pilat
Author:
Cliodna McNulty
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