The emergence of gentamicin-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa often follows topical use of gentamicin in burns patients. Multiple antibiotic drug resistance can be encouraged even by the use of a single agent, since this may select for plasmids conferring resistance to multiple antibiotics. Hospital patients and healthcare workers may become colonized with resistant bacteria especially in their faeces or on the skin, and disseminate these organisms both within the hospital and into the community. Reduce unnecessary antibiotic usage within hospitals . Although it is widely accepted that control of anti-biotic prescribing is essential for the prevention of antibiotic resistance , antibiotic misuse is still common.
Prophylaxis is often inappropriate or given at the wrong time.
Physicians are often poorly informed about the use of antibiotics and educational programmes on good antibiotic prescribing are needed both in medical schools and in postgraduate programmes. Dosage and duration of treatment should also be controlled by the committee. For the first time in 20 years clinical medicine is facing the threat of untreatable bacterial infections. Although new antimicrobial agents will continue to be developed, albeit currently at a reduced rate, it is likely that resistance to these agents will also eventually appear. It is clear that judicious use of antimicrobial agents , as well as strict control of cross-infection , are essential to combat the emergence of such potentially devastating pathogens.