Intensive care medicine
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Intensive care medicine · Jul 2015
Practice GuidelineStrategies to reduce curative antibiotic therapy in intensive care units (adult and paediatric).
Emerging resistance to antibiotics shows no signs of decline. At the same time, few new antibacterials are being discovered. There is a worldwide recognition regarding the danger of this situation. ⋯ Five fields were explored: i) the link between the resistance of bacteria and the use of antibiotics in intensive care; ii) which microbiological data and how to use them to reduce antibiotic consumption; iii) how should antibiotic therapy be chosen to limit consumption of antibiotics; iv) how can antibiotic administration be optimized; v) review and duration of antibiotic treatments. In each institution, the appropriation of these recommendations should arouse multidisciplinary discussions resulting in better knowledge of local epidemiology, rate of antibiotic use, and finally protocols for improving the stewardship of antibiotics. These efforts should contribute to limit the emergence of resistant bacteria.