Antimicrobial resistance is a rising global public health crisis with an estimated 1.27 million attributable deaths per year worldwide. Overuse and misuse of antibiotics are important modifiable drivers of rising drug-resistant infections. The majority of antibiotics are prescribed by primary care physicians. Peer comparison audit and feedback on antibiotic prescribing is a potentially scalable and effective intervention shown to improve antibiotic prescribing. Public Health Ontario, in partnership with OCFP and Choosing Wisely Canada, provides mailed antibiotic prescribing feedback letters to eligible family physicians in Ontario. This session will review recent evidence for this work as well as offer an opportunity for questions and feedback.

Learning objectives:

• Review the evidence base for antibiotic prescribing feedback in primary care
• Discuss the interpretation and limitations of the data
• Provide a venue for questions and feedback from Ontario family physicians regarding this work

Moderator:

Dr. Jobin Varughese, OCFP President, Family Physician, Interim Assistant Dean of Primary Care Education for the School of Medicine at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), Brampton, ON. 

Panelists:

Dr. Kevin Schwartz, MD MSc FRCPC DTM&H, is the division head for infectious diseases at St. Joseph’s Health Centre in Toronto and co-medical director for antimicrobial stewardship at Unity Health Toronto. He is an academic infection control and antimicrobial stewardship physician at Public Health Ontario, an assistant professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, and an adjunct scientist at ICES. His clinical area of interest is adult and pediatric infectious diseases and tropical medicine. His research interests include vaccine preventable diseases and antimicrobial stewardship with a particular focus on improving community antibiotic use to slow the emergence of drug-resistant infections.

Dr. Noah Ivers, MD, CCFP, PhD, is a family physician at Women’s College Hospital Academic Family Health Team, and also leads a research program in implementation science at Women’s College Hospital. He is a full Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. He holds a Canada Research Chair in the Implementation of Evidence Based Practice. Noah’s research focuses on the use of data to drive evidence-based, patient-centered improvements in healthcare