Capacity building to address antimicrobial resistance in remote Australia: The inaugural HOT NORTH Antimicrobial Academy.

Background: Rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) for some pathogens in Australia are considerably higher in rural and remote compared to urban regions. The inaugural Hot North Antimicrobial Academy was a 9-month educational programme aimed to build workforce knowledge and capacity in antimicrobial use, audit, stewardship, surveillance and drug resistance in remote primary health care.

Methods: The Academy was advertised to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, regional and remote healthcare workers.

LInezolid Monitoring to MInimise Toxicity (LIMMIT1): A multicentre retrospective review of patients receiving linezolid therapy and the impact of therapeutic drug monitoring.

Background: Linezolid is a broad-spectrum antimicrobial with limited use due to toxicity. This study aimed to evaluate linezolid toxicity in a large multicentre cohort. Secondary objectives were to identify factors contributing to toxicity, including the impact of therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM).

Consensus guidelines for optimising antifungal drug delivery and monitoring to avoid toxicity and improve outcomes in patients with haematological malignancy and haemopoietic stem cell transplant recipients, 2021.

Antifungal agents can have complex dosing and the potential for drug interaction, both of which can lead to subtherapeutic antifungal drug concentrations and poorer clinical outcomes for patients with haematological malignancy and haemopoietic stem cell transplant recipients. Antifungal agents can also be associated with significant toxicities when drug concentrations are too high. Suboptimal dosing can be minimised by clinical assessment, laboratory monitoring, avoidance of interacting drugs, and dose modification.

Emerging therapeutic drug monitoring of anti-infective agents in Australian hospitals: Availability, performance and barriers to implementation.

Aims: The purpose of the study was to assess the status of emerging therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) of anti-infective agents in Australian hospitals.

Methods: A nationwide cross-sectional survey of all Australian hospitals operating in the public and private health sector was conducted between August and September 2019. The survey consisted of questions regarding institutional TDM practice for anti-infective agents and clinical vignettes specific to β-lactam antibiotics.

Implementation of a novel antimicrobial stewardship strategy for rural facilities utilising telehealth.

A significant portion of healthcare takes place in small hospitals, and many are located in rural and regional areas. Facilities in these regions frequently do not have adequate resources to implement an onsite antimicrobial stewardship programme and there are limited data relating to their implementation and effectiveness. We present an innovative model of providing a specialist telehealth antimicrobial stewardship service utilising a centralised service (Queensland Statewide Antimicrobial Stewardship Program) to a rural Hospital and Health Service.