AWARE

Summary

Washington Alliance Working for Antibiotic Resistance Education (AWARE) is a comprehensive campaign to reduce the inappropriate use of antibiotics. While campaign is a project of the WSM-ERF, it is a collaborative effort of many entities including the Washington State Department of Health, the Washington State Medical Association, Regence Blue Shield, Premera Blue Cross, and Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that 50 million pounds of antibiotics are currently produced in the United States, up from 2 million pounds produced in 1954. The CDC also estimates that 20%-50% of the 235 million doses of antibiotics prescribed annually in unnecessary. An article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) estimates that physicians treating adults with viral infections prescribed antibiotics for 51% of patients with colds and 66% diagnosed with bronchitis. Viral infections do not require antibiotics.

At the same time, antibiotic resistance is becoming a major health problem. For example, only about 0.02% of pneumococcus strains were penicillin resistant in 19987, but in 1994 6.6 of those same strains were resistant. Over use and inappropriate use of antibiotics contributes to the problem of antibiotic resistant infections.

AWARE focuses on educating patients and physicians about the appropriate use of antibiotics. The campaign incorporates prescribing guidelines for five common upper respiratory illnesses—sinusitis, pharyngitis, otitis media, bronchitis, and community acquired pneumonia—with a continuing medical education effort to designed to reinforce physicians knowledge about the appropriate use of antibiotics. Patient information is designed to inform patients that antibiotics are effective for bacterial infections, but not for viral infections usually associated with colds and the flu.

Guidelines

Click here to download [PDF] guidelines for all below.

Acute Uncomplicated Bronchitis
Community Acquired Pneumonia
Otitis Media
Acute Pharyngitis
Acute Uncomplicated Sinusitis

Links

Visit the following sites for more information about antibiotic resistance:

http://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/community/tools.htm
http://www.doh.wa.gov/Topics/antibiotics.htm
http://www.washingtonaware.org