Carlos Palos - Synopsis

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is the capabality of microrganisms to resist to antimicrobials used to destroy them. Bacterial resistance to antibiotics, an adaptive property of bacteria, is 30.000 years old.

Due to its clinical and economic impact, AMR, in particular antibiotic resistance, is a huge public health problem. Infections caused by AMR will yearly kill 10M persons by 2050, more than the 1918 Flu Pandemic. Global Sustainable Development Goals will be affected.

Antibiotic prescription is the main drive for AMR. Thirty to half of antibiotic prescriptions are inappropriate. Antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASP) have been implemented aiming prescription improvement. Interventions based on the analysis of individual prescriptions are the most effective, requiring adoption of validated indicators.

The objective of our project is to optimize ASP activities in Portuguese acute care hospitals, through a multi-step approach, combining qualitative and quantitative methods, aiming standardized appropriateness classification for quality assessment, immediate intervention and audit.