Appropriate Antibiotic use in Aged Care

Despite about 10% of aged care residents taking antimicrobials on any given day, only one-third of these clients are actually displaying signs of infection (NPS 2019).

Antimicrobials is the broad term used to describe all medications that treat infections caused by pathogens (viruses, bacteria, parasites and fungi). Antibiotics are the specific type of antimicrobial used to treat bacterial infections (ACSQHC 2017).

This article will focus on the use of antibiotics in aged care.

Antibiotics and Aged Care

Residents in aged care are often frail, have weak immune systems and live in close proximity to others, making them more susceptible to developing infections. This, in turn, correlates to increased antibiotic use in these facilities (AMR 2017).