Why is active surveillance considered crucial in antimicrobial stewardship programs?

Active surveillance plays a vital role in antimicrobial stewardship programs primarily because it allows healthcare providers to identify emerging resistance patterns. By actively monitoring antibiotic resistance in various pathogens, healthcare professionals can detect changes over time, leading to a better understanding of which antibiotics might still be effective against certain infections. This information is crucial for informing treatment choices, updating guidelines, and ensuring that antibiotics are used appropriately.

Understanding resistance patterns helps clinicians to make data-driven decisions on antibiotic prescribing, tailoring their choices based on local epidemiology. Consequently, this practice directly contributes to the overarching goal of antimicrobial stewardship: to optimize antibiotic use and combat the spread of resistance.

While assessing the effectiveness of antibiotics and tracking environmental contamination are important, they do not encapsulate the primary function of surveillance in this context. Moreover, completely eliminating antibiotic use is not a feasible goal in clinical practice, as some infections still require antibiotic treatment.