THE Aged Care National Antimicrobial Prescribing Survey (acNAPS) is urging pharmacists, nurses and infection control practitioners to participate in its annual scan of the antimicrobial medicines prescription environment in Australia.
The voluntary annual survey can be undertaken on any single day between 01 Jun and 31 Aug 2018.
All Australian aged care homes and multi-purpose services are eligible to participate, with previous acNAPS surveys identifying the following areas for improvement:
* High rates of prescribing of antimicrobials for unconfirmed infections
* Gaps in documentation of the indication for antimicrobials and a review and/or stop date
* Prolonged duration of antimicrobial prescriptions
* Very high rates of use of topical antimicrobials.
acNAPS is a collaborative project between the National Centre for Antimicrobial Stewardship (NCAS), the Guidance Group and Victorian Healthcare Associated Infection Surveillance System (VICNISS) Co-ordinating Centre.
Visit naps.org.au to participate.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 13 Jun 18
To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 13 Jun 18
