For 50 years, antibiotics have been dispensed like sweets. This must not be allowed to continue. This unique book assembles contributions from experts around the world concerned with responsible use of antibiotics and the consequences of overuse. For the first time, it provides up to the minute texts on both the theoretical aspects of antibiotic stewardship and the practical aspects of its implementation, with consideration of the key differences between developed and developing countries. All concerned with teaching, practice and administration of clinical medicine, surgery, pharmacy, public health, clinical pharmacology, microbiology, infectious diseases and clinical therapeutics will find Antibiotic Policies: Theory and Practice essential reading. Antibiotic use and resistance is not just the responsibility of specialists in the field but the responsibility of all doctors, pharmacists, nurses, healthcare administrators, patients and the general public.

"For 50 years, antibiotics have been dispensed like sweets. This must not be allowed to continue. This unique book assembles contributions from experts around the world concerned with responsible use of antibiotics and the consequences of overuse. For the first time, it provides up to the minute texts on both the theoretical aspects of antibiotic stewardship and the practical aspects of its implementation, with consideration of the key differences between developed and developing countries. All concerned with teaching, practice and administration of clinical medicine, surgery, pharmacy, public health, clinical pharmacology, microbiology, infectious diseases and clinical therapeutics will find Antibiotic Policies: Theory and Practice essential reading. Antibiotic use and resistance is not just the responsibility of specialists in the field but the responsibility of all doctors, pharmacists, nurses, healthcare administrators, patients and the general public."

Antibiotic Policies-A Historical Perspective.- Guideline Implementation: It is Not Impossible.- UK Guidelines: Methodology and Standards of Care.- Pneumonia Guidelines in Practice.- Collecting, Converting, and Making Sense of Hospital Antimicrobial Consumption Data.- How Do Measurements of Antibiotic Consumption Relate to Antibiotic Resistance?.- Quantitative Measurement of Antibiotic Use.- Benchmarking.- Experiences with Antimicrobial Utilisation Surveillance and Benchmarking.- Interventions to Optimise Antibiotic Prescribing in Hospitals: The UK Approach.- Improving Prescribing in Surgical Prophylaxis.- Audits for Monitoring the Quality of Antimicrobial Prescriptions.- Multidisciplinary Antimicrobial Management Teams and the Role of the Pharmacist in Management of Infection.- Antibiotic Policy-Slovenian Experiences.- Intensive Care Unit.- The Real Cost of MRSA.- Antifungal Agents: Resistance and Rational Use.- Strategies for the Rational Use of Antivirals.- Disinfection Policies in Hospitals and the Community.- The Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance within Patients.- Impact of Pharmacodynamics on Dosing Schedules: Optimizing Efficacy, Reducing Resistance, and Detection of Emergence of Resistance.- Types of Surveillance Data and Meaningful Indicators for Reporting Antimicrobial Resistance.- Data Mining to Discover Emerging Patterns of Antimicrobic Resistance.- Applications of Time-series Analysis to Antibiotic Resistance and Consumption Data.- Biocide Use and Antibiotic Resistance.- Interventions to Improve Antibiotic Prescribing in the Community.- Education of Patients and Professionals.- The Influence of National Policies on Antibiotic Prescribing.- Antibiotic Use in the Community.- Antibiotic Use in the Community: The French Experience.- Antibiotic Policies inDeveloping Countries.- Antimicrobial Resistance and its Containment in Developing Countries.- Antibiotic Use in Animals-Policies and Control Measures Around Europe.- The Pharmaceutical Company Approach to Antibiotic Policies.- Antibiotic Use-Ecological Issues and Required Actions.