How can handheld technology improve antimicrobial prescribing?

Handheld technology significantly enhances antimicrobial prescribing by providing on-demand access to guidelines, dosing recommendations, and resistance data. This immediate access allows healthcare professionals to make informed decisions in real-time, which is crucial for effective patient care and optimizing antimicrobial use.

With updated guidelines at their fingertips, prescribers can more accurately choose the appropriate antimicrobial therapies based on current best practices and local resistance patterns. This not only promotes the effective treatment of infections but also helps minimize the misuse of antibiotics, which is a primary goal of antimicrobial stewardship programs.

In contrast, other options either detract from the role of technology in clinical practice or do not enhance decision-making. For instance, increasing prescription errors would clearly be counterproductive, while limiting access to clinical data hinders informed prescribing, and enabling more face-to-face consultations, while beneficial, does not directly relate to the advantages provided by handheld technology in accessing critical prescribing information.