Cause for alarm in aged care facilities. 30% of scripts in aged care homes have been identified as not having any use to the resident. And 65% do not have review date.
A study by the National Centre for Antimicrobial Stewardship (NCAS) and Victorian Healthcare Associated Infection Surveillance Coordinating Centre looked at 186 care facilities. It also found 20% of scripts gave antibiotics when there was no evidence of infection.
NCAS Director Professor Karin Thursky said “Prescribing is particularly poor in the area of urinary tract, skin and chest infections”.
The risk is that overmedication is likely to reduce resistance to superbugs. The first case in the US of a bug resistant to all known antibiotics was reported last week.