Practical approaches to AMS in companion animal practice

Dr Tim Nuttall introduces some practical approaches to establishing antimicrobial stewardship in companion animal practice.

AMS in practice involves the client as well as the vet (the prescriber), the nurses and the administration team. However, it is not uncommon to find a vet practice that does not use written antimicrobial guidelines, or where the practice team are not clear on their implementation. It’s important to remember that these guidelines are not trying to dictate how first-opinion practice works, but rather they are a set of tools to help practitioners make rational decisions about appropriate antimicrobial use. More information on antibacterials and associated guidelines can be found from the BSAVA in the link in the see also section.

One of the main aims of implementing antimicrobial stewardship in practice is to move from second and third-line treatments to more first-line treatments; in the video, Tim Nuttall discusses many ways to do this.

A link to the website mentioned in a video can be found in the see also section; there are also many other ways you can get involved in AMS:

• Antibiotic awareness week.
• Antibiotic action champions.
• Antibiotic guardian campaign.

Use the comments section to discuss which of these ideas you are already involved in, and what you learnt that was new in this step which you could introduce to your practice.

Now we have looked at a more general approach to implementing AMS in companion animal practice, in the next two steps Rosanne Jepson will discuss methods of implementing good antimicrobial guidelines and good hand hygiene in order to achieve antimicrobial stewardship.

Please find a downloadable copy of the PowerPoint slides used in the video in the downloads section below.