The development of antibiotics is one of the greatest advances in the history of medicine, but the rise of resistant microbes threatens to bring society back to the dark ages. While governments around the world scramble to develop policies to prevent antimicrobial resistance, PhD student Susan Rogers Van Katwyk has led the most comprehensive study to date on the topic. In a recent PLOS Medicine report, Rogers Van Katwyk and her colleagues reviewed 69 studies describing 17 different strategies used by governments to limit antimicrobial use. The strategies ranged from launching awareness campaigns to shaming hospitals to financially penalizing physicians and patients. Unfortunately, many of the studies used low-quality, non-randomized designs, making it difficult to draw strong conclusions. “There are a lot of interesting ideas for preventing antimicrobial resistance, but governments need to rigorously evaluate them if we’re going to make a difference,” said Rogers Van Katwyk, who is co-supervised by Dr. Jeremy Grimshaw at The Ottawa Hospital / University of Ottawa and Dr. Steven Hoffman of York University. See media release for details.
Authors: Susan Rogers Van Katwyk, Jeremy Grimshaw, Miriam Nkangu, Ranjana Nagi, Marc Mendelson, Monica Taljaard, Steven Hoffman
Core Resources: Ottawa Methods Centre
Funding: Research Council of Norway, Public Health Agency of Canada, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Government of Ontario, Canada Research Chairs Program. All research at The Ottawa Hospital is supported by The Ottawa Hospital Foundation.
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