Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is defined as the resistance of a micro-organism to an antimicrobial medicine to which it was originally sensitive. If effective antibiotics are not available, society risks returning to the days when those infections now regarded as trivial become fatal again. An infected cut could be life-threatening and an illness like pneumonia would again become a mass killer. Without effective antibiotics, medical procedures designed to help people could actually lead to many more deaths. Cancer chemotherapy, transplants and surgery all rely on available and effective antibiotics. 

Antimicrobial resistance is not a distant threat, but one of the most dangerous patient safety and global crises facing the world today. 

With over 70 per cent of antibiotic prescribing occurring in primary care, community pharmacy teams have a critical role to play in tackling AMR. Preventing infections is a major part of tackling antimicrobial resistance because it reduces the need for antibiotics in the first place.

Protection

Hand hygiene is important in preventing transmission of infection at home and especially in all health and social care settings. Cleaning hands properly is the single most important thing anyone can do to help reduce the spread of infections.

Hands should always be washed with soap and water if they are visibly soiled, or after using the toilet. Alcohol handrub can be used if hands are visibly clean but it is not effective against some infections (e.g. Clostridium difficile), so washing with soap and water is safer.

Washing hands properly takes about 20 seconds (as long as singing “Happy Birthday” twice). A video on the NHS’ YouTube channel shows the correct way to wash hands.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that flu causes between 250,000 and 500,000 deaths annually worldwide. Providing a vaccine service or signposting at-risk patients to somewhere they can receive their vaccination is an important public health service that can help stem the rise of antimicrobial resistance.