Skip to content
Skip to main content

About this free course

Download this course

Share this free course

Understanding antibiotic resistance
Understanding antibiotic resistance

Start this free course now. Just create an account and sign in. Enrol and complete the course for a free statement of participation or digital badge if available.

4 Rapid infection diagnostics

Prescribing unnecessary antibiotics increases the chances of antibiotic resistance developing. This is often because broad-spectrum antibiotics are prescribed before the infection is diagnosed. Reducing the amount of time taken to diagnose an infection will help to reduce the unnecessary prescribing of antibiotics (Figure 9). This is the goal of rapid diagnostics.

Described image
Figure 9 Unnecessary prescription of antibiotics to treat respiratory problems in the USA (O’Neill, 2016).