An App a day keeps resistance at bay - A novel method to improve antimicrobial governance

Abstract

Antimicrobial stewardship is the responsibility of all healthcare professionals in an effort to prevent the exponential growth of antimicrobial resistance (1). Since discovery, over twenty five years ago vancomycin resistant enterococcus has spread worldwide highlighting the importance of policy compliance (2). Good antimicrobial governance is a balance between effective early treatment (therefore broad spectrum) then de-escalating to source directed therapy (narrow spectrum) to limit resistance. Policy compliance requires an effective distribution strategy, enthusiastic uptake and diligent implementation in order to control antibiotic resistance. Mobile phone technology remains an under-utilised resource for the distribution of trust policies and guidelines. The anti-infectives guidelines for University Hospitals Southampton (UHS) have been deployed using paper, intranet and now, a smartphone application called Microguide. Imperial College Healthcare recently published data governing a similar smartphone application. We conducted an audit with a wider target audience and extended questions to analyse institutional differences