Antibiotic use in residential 
aged care facilities

BACKGROUND: High infection burden among the residential aged care facility (RACF) population has long been recognised; however, existing infection prevention effort is often limited to infection surveillance activity. There is a scarcity of evidence to guide antimicrobial stewardship in the Australian RACF setting.

OBJECTIVE: This review summarises the current trends in antibiotic use and multi-drug resistant (MDR) organisms, challenges related to antibiotic prescribing and areas of suboptimal antibiotic prescribing for further improvement, particularly in the Australian RACF setting.

DISCUSSION: There is widespread antibiotic prescribing in RACF, which may lead to the emergence of antibiotic resistance. Accordingly, there is an immediate need for judicious antibiotic use in this high-risk population to curb the rapid emergence of MDR organisms and other adverse consequences associated with inappropriate antibiotic use, as well as to reduce healthcare costs.