AMDA Partners with CDC on Antibiotics Initiative for Second Year

Columbia, MD – For the second year in a row, AMDA—Dedicated to Long Term Care Medicine (AMDA) is partnering with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to promote “Get Smart about Antibiotics Week” (November 14-20). This initiative was designed to create awareness of the appropriate use of antibiotics across care settings. 

Antimicrobial resistance among respiratory pathogens has become a common concern and the antibiotic resistance has been documented in various settings. As the CDC website says, “The Institute of Medicine has identified antibiotic resistance as one of the key microbial threats to health in the United States and has listed decreasing the inappropriate use of antimicrobials as a primary solution to address this threat. For this reason, antibiotic resistance is among CDC’s top concerns.” In 1995, the agency launched the National Campaign for Appropriate Antibiotic Use in the Community. In 2003, CDC renamed this program, “Get Smart: Know When Antibiotics Work.”
AMDA President Matthew Wayne, MD, CMD, prepared a blog for the CDC’s website on the relationship between antibiotics and Clostridium difficilie (C. difficile) diarrhea in long term care, in which he said, “People who have recently taken antibiotics are at greatest risk for C. difficile, which is yet another reason we need to use these medications carefully in our nursing homes and long term care facilities.” The blog was published on November 16, 2012 and can be accessed at http://blogs.cdc.gov/safehealthcare/. 

To help its members and their interdisciplinary teams address this issue, AMDA has created various materials and tools. These include a tool kit, “Constipation and Diarrhea in the Long Term Care Setting,” a clinical practice guideline (CPG) on common infections , and archived webinars on infection control and C. difficile infection in long term care residents). AMDA is offering the Common Infections CPG at a 10% discount until November 18, 2012 in honor of the Get Smart initiative. Those interested should enter promo code GETSMART at the checkout. As part of “Get Smart about Antibiotics Week,” CDC also will publish a wide array of special information, including when antibiotics work, antibiotic questions and answers, “fast facts,” and other information (www.cdc.gov/getsmart/). Additionally, the “Get Smart” campaign page (www.cdc.gov/getsmart/campaign-materials/index.html) offers print materials such as brochures and posters, treatment guidelines, and press materials.