Hospitalists Raise a Defiant Fist Against Superbugs

October 28th, 2015

Hospitalists – a provider group well-positioned to preserve antibiotic efficacy -- have joined the national effort to beat back the myriad strains of multidrug resistant bacteria and stave off a “post-antibiotic” era where common infections could become untreatable.

They are not stepping tentatively into the battle, but marching under a slogan that invokes ‘60s radicals and revolution: “Fight the Resistance.”

Starting on November 10, the Society of Hospital Medicine, representing 14,000 hospitalist members, will encourage thousands of hospital-based clinicians to rise up and fight against antibiotic resistance. SHM’s Fight the Resistance campaign is timed to take place the week before the “Get Smart About Antibiotics Week" (Nov. 16-22), annually held by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to the SHM, the idea is go beyond an educational campaign and promote behavior and culture change through new dramatic posters for hospital walls and a series of online events that include:

• November 10: A “Fight the Resistance” kick-off webinar with Scott Flanders, MD, professor of medicine and director of the hospitalist program at the University of Michigan, and Melhim Bou Alwan, MD, Chair, Antimicrobial Stewardship Committee, West Georgia Health.

• A social media contest via SHM’s Twitter feed at @SHMLive starting on November 16, encouraging hospital-based staff to put up the new posters in high-traffic areas of their institution.

• A CDC Expert Commentary video available on Medscape on November 2.

There are some 44,000 hospitalists working in America’s hospitals and many of them lead teams and make prescription decisions that can promote antibiotic stewardship, the SHM emphasizes.

For authoritative, peer-reviewed coverage of important issues for hospitalists check out AHC Media's Hospital Medicine Alert .