The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to launch its Antibiotic Use and Resistance reporting module this week. The system will allow hospitals to track all dispensed antibiotics and look at patterns of antibiotic resistance.
The AUR module is part of the CDC's National Healthcare Safety Network, a tracking system that allows organizations to get information on infection problem areas and measure prevention efforts. Tom Frieden, MD, MPH, CDC's director, made the launch announcement at a National Press Club luncheon Tuesday, according to an infoZine report.
"We've done a study that says about a third of all antibiotics used in this country are either unnecessary or inappropriate," Dr. Frieden said, according to The Hill, and every year, 23,000 Americans die from antibiotic-resistant infections.
The reporting module will help physicians determine which antibiotics are most likely to work for their patients without being too broad or narrow, The Hill reported.
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