Widespread inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics in UK hospitals has led to the introduction of specialist antibiotic pharmacists. Their role is to monitor antibiotic use, advise clinicians, educate all grades of healthcare workers and help to develop policy. Antibiotic pharmacists have been shown to be effective in many situations. As these practitioners become more accomplished it will be possible to expand their role to include direct intervention in patient treatment. Simple measures, such as modification of intravenous treatment to oral and automatic stop orders, could greatly enhance patient care.
Recent years have seen the development of specialist roles for hospital pharmacists within the sphere of infection management. This paper examines the background to this role, describes current activities and looks to future developments in this important area.
This paper reviews the wide-ranging activities of hospital pharmacists in infection management. Hospital pharmacists share many roles with primary care colleagues within the area of infection prevention and control including advising on the management of self limiting infectious diseases such as influenza. However, this paper reviews other specialist hospital activities including clinical pharmacy, technical services and medicines information.
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