Northern Health’s Antimicrobial Stewardship (AMS) Program ‘Guidance’ is undergoing a major upgrade in 2025.
The program, which has been operating since 2011, is an essential decision support tool to promote safe and appropriate antimicrobial use across the organisation.
[Guidance’ is a web-based antimicrobial decision support program, designed by the National Centre for Antimicrobial Stewardship (NCAS) to support AMS activities in hospitals.
First developed in 2005 and is implemented in over 60 hospitals nationally, the upgraded program will provide better functionality and is fully customisable.
Few of its benefits will include advanced clinical decision support and improved prescriber workflows, workflow efficiency and EMR integration, and improved AMS auditing and reporting capability.
Enhanced functionality will provide more effective clinical guidance and decision support for clinicians when prescribing antimicrobials and treating infectious conditions.
The upgraded program will allow clinicians to search by indication or medicine and provide treatment recommendations based on fully customisable treatment pathways, based on local and national guidelines.
The program will be used by all clinical staff at Northern Health, improving antimicrobial prescribing across the organisation. The build is being directed by an expert working group consisting of the AMS team, Pharmacy, IT and Informatics.
Antimicrobial Stewardship lead pharmacist Danni Miatke said she hoped the upgrade would provide safer options at Northern Health.
“My hope is that the improved functionality and EMR integration will allow increased utilisation of local prescribing Guidelines and lead to safer antimicrobial use at Northern Health,” she said.
