Digital AMS app launched for appropriate use of antibiotics

Ludhiana, September 4, 2018: Secretary of DMCH Managing Society-Sh Prem Gupta recently launched ‘Digital AMS mobile app’. Dr.Deepinder Chhina, HOD Microbiology highlighted the importance of the app. Dr.Rajoo Singh Chhina, Dean Academics appraised the audience regarding antimicrobial stewardship.

This is a useful tool to guide the optimum use of antibiotics. This will help in the initial treatment of the patient on admission, till culture and sensitivity reports are available.

Antibiotics are most widely used drugs and their resistance is rampant these days. By the year 2050, it will be the commonest cause of deaths in the world, even more than the coronary artery disease and cancers. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states antibiotic resistant microorganisms as “nightmare bacteria” that “pose a catastrophic threat” to people of the world. Antibiotic resistance has emerged due to inappropriate use, inadequate dosage and injudicious use .The number of new antibiotics being identified has slumped to an all-time low. There are no new classes of antibiotics that can be used. The loss of effective antibiotics will undermine our ability to fight infectious diseases and manage the infectious complications common in vulnerable patients undergoing chemotherapy for cancer, dialysis for renal failure, and surgery, especially organ transplantation, for which the ability to treat secondary infections is crucial.

When first-line and then second-line antibiotic treatment options are limited by resistance or are unavailable, healthcare providers are forced to use antibiotics that may be more toxic to the patient and frequently more expensive and less effective. Even when alternative treatments exist, research has shown that patients with resistant infections are often much more likely to die, and survivors have significantly longer hospital stays, delayed recuperation, and long-term disability. Efforts to prevent such threats build on the foundation of proven public health strategies: immunization, infection control, protecting the food supply, antimicrobial stewardship, and reducing person-to-person spread through screening, treatment and education.

Novel techniques for avoiding the upsurge of antibiotic resistance, for example bacteriophages, quorum sensing inhibition, symbiotics etc are still in infancy. Rational use of antibiotics and stringent hospital infection control practices are the need of the hour to curb the menace of antibiotic resistance.

With the conjoint efforts of various departments of DMCH, hospital antibiotic policy was formulated. A mobile app on antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) was designed. AMS is a coordinated program that promotes the appropriate use of antimicrobials, improves patient outcomes, reduces microbial resistance, and decreases the spread of infections caused by multidrug resistant organisms.