Improving anitbiotic prescribing

Dr Jonathan Sandoe (Medicine and Health) has developed treatment guidelines for NHS doctors at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust to improve the quality of antibiotic prescribing. This work explains the importance of making the correct diagnosis first time round, and includes advice on which type of investigations doctors should carry out help identify the cause of an infection.

Funded jointly by the MRC AMR Programme and BSAC, Dr Jonathan Sandoe has also been involved with the production of a short stop frame animation film to help reduce public demand for antibiotics and better inform patients (Our Helpful Bacteria). As part of a behavioural study, 200 adults watched the animation and 200 adults watched a control video. They completed questionnaires before and after viewing and the questionnaire completion was repeated after 6 weeks. The questionnaire was used to assess motivations for the use of antibiotics. The results will be published in the near future.