Pharmacist Antimicrobial Stewardship (PAMS) Network Updates

The Pharmacist Antimicrobial Stewardship (PAMS) Network is a network to support pharmacists from across all settings in delivering antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) in our day-to-day roles. The network would like to inform you that the following antimicrobial prescribing guidelines have been updated:

• Lower Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) in pregnancy: Amoxicillin has been removed from the empiric treatment table due to high rates of resistance and should only be prescribed when pathogen is confirmed to be sensitive to amoxicillin.

• Asymptomatic bacteriuria in pregnancy: Information has been updated regarding the screening for asymptomatic bacteriuria in pregnancy. The update also includes additional advice from the expert advisory group in the case of isolation of group B Streptococcus.
• Acute epididymo-orchitis: Update to advice in treatment table regarding testing and distinguishing between likely pathogen sources.
• Acute prostatis: Information added on when to refer and updated advice from expert advisory group including:
  • The most important investigation in the evaluation of a patient with acute bacterial prostatitis is mid-stream urine culture.
  • Imaging of the urinary tract is also advisable in men with acute prostatitis because of high prevalence of structural abnormalities.

Please visit the ‘what’s new’ tab on the HSE-Antibiotic Prescribing web page to find all the current antibiotic prescribing guidelines.