JAC Advance Access originally published online on November 1, 2006
Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 2006 58(6):1105-1106; doi:10.1093/jac/dkl438
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Leading article |
The potential role of computerized decision support systems to improve empirical antibiotic prescribing
Health Informatics Centre, Division of Community Health Sciences Mackenzie Building, Kirsty Semple Way, Dundee DD2 4BF, UK
*Tel: +4401382 420000; Fax: +4401382 420010; E-mail: p.g.davey{at}chs.dundee.ac.uk
Prudent antibiotic prescribing is a cornerstone of efforts to control the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance and to reduce the occurrence of Clostridium difficile associated diarrhoea, and is also currently the subject of a joint Working Party of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy and the Hospital Infection Society. An article in this issue of the Journal describes a cluster randomized trial of an intervention to improve antibiotic prescribing using TREAT, a computerized decision support system. The results from this trial provide a significant contribution to the development of evidence-based prescribing of antibiotics.
Keywords: TREAT , antibiotic treatment , antibiotic resistance