Title Health Alliance for prudent prescribing, yield and use of antimicrobial drugs in the treatment of respiratory tract infections (HAPPY AUDIT)
Authors Bjerrum, Lars ; Munck, Anders ; Gahrn-Hansen, Bente ; Hansen, Malene Plejdrup ; Jarboel, Dorte ; Llor, Carl ; Cots, Josep Maria ; Hernández, Silvia ; López-Valcárcel, Beatriz González ; Perez, Antoñia ; Caballero, Lidia ; Heyde von der, Walter ; Radzevičienė-Jurgutė, Rūta ; Jurgutis, Arnoldas ; Reutskiy, Anatoliy ; Egorova, Elena ; Strandberg, Eva Lena ; Ovhed, Ingvar ; Molstad, Sigvard ; Stichele vander, Robert ; Benko, Ria ; Vlahovic-Palcevski, Vera ; Lionis, Christos ; Rønning, Marit
DOI 10.1186/1471-2296-11-29
Full Text Download
Is Part of BMC family practice.. London : BioMed Central. 2010, vol. 11, art. no. 29, p. 1-7.. eISSN 1471-2296
Keywords [eng] Antibiotic resistance ; Clinical practice ; Drug use ; European Union ; Health care organization
Abstract [eng] Background: Excessive and inappropriate use of antibiotics is considered to be the most important reason for development of bacterial resistance to antibiotics. As antibiotic resistance may spread across borders, high prevalence countries may serve as a source of bacterial resistance for countries with a low prevalence. Therefore, bacterial resistance is an important issue with a potential serious impact on all countries. The majority of respiratory tract infections (RTIs) are treated in general practice. Most infections are caused by virus and antibiotics are therefore unlikely to have any clinical benefit. Several intervention initiatives have been taken to reduce the inappropriate use of antibiotics in primary health care, but the effectiveness of these interventions is only modest. Only few studies have been designed to determine the effectiveness of multifaceted strategies in countries with different practice setting. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of a multifaceted intervention targeting general practitioners (GPs) and patients in six countries with different prevalence of antibiotic resistance: Two Nordic countries (Denmark and Sweden), two Baltic Countries (Lithuania and Kaliningrad-Russia) and two Hispano- American countries (Spain and Argentina). Methods/Design: HAPPY AUDIT was initiated in 2008 and the project is still ongoing. The project includes 15 partners from 9 countries. GPs participating in HAPPY AUDIT will be audited by the Audit Project Odense (APO) method. The APO method will be used at a multinational level involving GPs from six countries with different cultural background and different organisation of primary health care. Research on the effect of the intervention will be performed by analysing audit registrations carried out before and after the intervention. [...].
Published London : BioMed Central
Type Journal article
Language English
Publication date 2010
CC license CC license description