New primary care antimicrobial resource in multiple languages

Virus Action Plans, available in adult and child versions and in multiple languages, are the latest release in a suite of He Ako Hiringa resources designed to assist the primary care workforce with utilising antimicrobials appropriately.

The He Ako Hiringa Virus Action Plans are intended to be used by a health professional as part of a consultation. The patient can be given an individualised, two-page plan for managing their symptoms at home, with advice to contact the provider if symptoms do not resolve within a specified period.

The free resources, downloadable as editable PDFs from the He Ako Hiringa website, are available in English, Māori, Hindi, simplified Chinese, Tongan, Samoan and Arabic. Partial English translations are provided in each section of the plans to allow the provider to customise them in different languages.

The resources were developed after consultation with the New Zealand Antimicrobial Stewardship and Infection Pharmacist Expert Group (NAMSIPEG) and after a review of similar resources used internationally.

He Ako Hiringa education lead and pharmacist Andrea Copeland says the plans are intended to help clinicians manage patient expectations around the use of antibiotics in viral illnesses.

“During our resource development process, it became clear that some of our primary care workforce found it challenging to manage patient beliefs about antimicrobials, and this appeared to be a factor in the inappropriate use of antibiotics.”

Ms Copeland is hopeful that the release of these resources may also prompt prescribers to consider their use of ‘back pocket’ scripts for viral illnesses.

“It’s important that clinicians consider the impact of just-in-case prescriptions and the likelihood of these being dispensed and then used or disposed of inappropriately, particularly now the prescription copayment has been removed.”

Other He Ako Hiringa antimicrobial stewardship resources include a general practice quality improvement template, podcasts, recorded webinars and written articles.

He Ako Hiringa also publishes EPiC Antibiotics, an analytics dashboard that allows practitioners and practices to evaluate their own antibiotic prescribing against known problems of antibiotic prescribing practice.

To access the Virus Action Plans go to akohiringa.co.nz/virus-action-plans

For further information or distribution requests
Andrea Copeland, Education Lead, He Ako Hiringa
email: andrea@akohiringa.co.nz
phone: 021 353 163

He Ako Hiringa is funded by Pharmac to support the responsible use of pharmaceuticals in primary care