"Regardless of the species, we aim to improve antibiotic use while effectively treating infections."
Amanda Beaudoin, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVPM
Director of One Health Antibiotic Stewardship, Minnesota Department of Health (MDH)
How does your work involve antibiotic use?
I work with partners in health care, veterinary medicine, and environmental health to think about how stewardship can be practiced in all sectors that use antibiotics. Regardless of the species, we aim to improve antibiotic use while effectively treating infections.
From your perspective, what is most challenging about antibiotic prescribing and stewardship?
Much of antibiotic stewardship comes down to understanding and modifying human behavior. Things like practice norms, diagnostic uncertainty, the desire to alleviate discomfort, and decision fatigue all factor into prescribing choices. Luckily, because these factors are often similar for prescribers across fields, including human medicine, dentistry, long-term care, and companion-animal and food-animal veterinary medicine, approaches to improve prescribing can be shared.
What is your professional experience with antibiotic resistance?
Before joining MDH, I worked as part of the International Infection Control Program at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), supporting international partners to detect, prevent, and respond to antimicrobial resistance threats in hospitals. Here in Minnesota, I work with laboratory and clinical partners to do the same in our health care and veterinary settings. Whether it is at home or abroad, in our hospitals, communities, or on the farm, when professionals are empowered to identify resistant organisms and implement actions to control their emergence and spread, we are all safer.
What worries you most about antibiotic use?
I worry that that, without improvement in how we use antibiotics, more people across the world, including here in Minnesota, will suffer from untreatable infections. Other adverse patient impacts of antibiotic use, including Clostridioides difficile infection and adverse drug reactions, also concern me. Although these consequences can impact patients who receive antibiotics appropriately, we have a golden opportunity to prevent unnecessary harm by reducing inappropriate antibiotic use.
What would you like to know more about in regard to antibiotic use?
I would like prescribers in all settings to have robust guidance for antibiotic duration. In addition to improving antibiotic selection, we can also make a big impact on overall use (for an individual patient and across our population) if we focus on prescribing these drugs for the shortest effective duration. Data available to guide appropriate duration vary depending on the species and condition for which we are prescribing.
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