Objectives: The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (the Commission) is advancing the development of a nationally coordinated Antimicrobial Use and Resistance in Australia (AURA) Surveillance System. AURA 2016: First Australian report on antimicrobial use and resistance in human health includes valuable data and comprehensive analyses of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), antimicrobial use (AU) and appropriateness of prescribing in Australia across all healthcare settings.
Methods: To develop AURA, the Commission worked collaboratively with established programs and key stakeholders across settings to improve the coverage, capture and quality of existing surveillance programs and data collections, and to identify gaps. Some partner programs include: the National Antimicrobial Utilsation Surveillance Program (NAUSP), the National Antimicrobial Prescribing Survey (NAPS), and the Australian Group on Antimicrobial Resistance. Additional data sources include the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and NPS MedicineWise.
The report consolidates the information arising from these sources, describes key emerging issues for AU and AMR in Australia, draws on comparisons with other countries undertaking similar surveillance, and provides commentary on the relationship between select organisms and antimicrobials.
Results: Australia has a high rate of AU compared with many other countries and this use can often be inappropriate. There is significant variation in AU across states and territories and local areas.
Australia has different patterns of AMR to other countries, with analysis of 13 priority organisms revealing there are a number of organisms of particular concern, mainly gram-positive, while others show a lower rate of resistance mainly gram-negative, possibly due to restricted use of some antimicrobial classes.
Findings such as these can be used to inform and support strategies to prevent and contain AMR.
Conclusions: Surveillance of AU and AMR is critical to the safety and quality of Australia’s healthcare. The AURA Surveillance System will continue to build on the AURA 2016 report by further exploring, enhancing and reporting on a range of data collections.