Antibiotics: Learning outcomes
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After completing this tutorial, you will be able to:
- Describe the importance of effective antibiotic stewardship.
- Classify common clinically important bacteria, describe what organisms are usually found where and select appropriate antibiotics.
- Tailor antibiotic therapy according to your patient's medical history, concomitant medicines and allergy status.
You can download a PDF of the whole tutorial (without interactive elements such as the Learning Exercises) and a one-page summary of key points.

Competencies
This tutorial is aimed at hospital trainee pharmacists, and will help you achieve GPhC learning outcomes such as these:- LO 12 Take an all-inclusive approach to ensure the most appropriate course of action based on clinical, legal and professional considerations
- LO 16 Apply professional judgement in all circumstances, taking legal and ethical reasoning into account
- LO 27 Take responsibility for the legal, safe and efficient supply, [prescribing] and administration of medicines
- LO 29 Apply the principles of clinical therapeutics, pharmacology and genomics to make effective use of medicines for people [including in their prescribing practice]
- LO 30 Appraise the evidence base and apply clinical reasoning and professional judgement to make safe and logical decisions which minimise risk and optimise outcomes for the person
- LO 34 Apply the principles of effective monitoring and management to improve health outcomes
- LO 35 Anticipate and recognise adverse drug reactions, and recognise the need to apply the principles of pharmacovigilance
- LO 48 Actively take part in the management of risks and consider the impacts on people
If you are a foundation pharmacist, this tutorial may help you meet competencies from the RPS framework including:
- 1.2 Need for the medicine
- 1.4 Selection of the medicine (medicine-medicine, medicine-patient, medicine-disease interactions)
- 1.5 Medicine specific issues (ensures appropriate dose, selection of dosing regimen, selection of formulation and concentration)
- 1.8 Evaluation of outcomes
- 3.2 Knowledge
- 3.3 Analysing information
Continuing professional development
Finally, here are some CPD activities you could consider:
★ Shadow your microbiology multi-disciplinary team on a ward round. Reflect upon, and learn from their expert decision-making.
★ Does your department record the clinical questions received by the on-call pharmacists out of hours? Review the calls involving antibiotics - would you have known the answer or where to look for information? Identify and prioritise your knowledge and experience gaps.
★ Choose a patient with an interesting infection and present the case to your team. Teaching others is an effective way to improve your knowledge of a particular topic and increase your confidence if faced with a similar case again.
★ Shadow your microbiology multi-disciplinary team on a ward round. Reflect upon, and learn from their expert decision-making.
★ Does your department record the clinical questions received by the on-call pharmacists out of hours? Review the calls involving antibiotics - would you have known the answer or where to look for information? Identify and prioritise your knowledge and experience gaps.
★ Choose a patient with an interesting infection and present the case to your team. Teaching others is an effective way to improve your knowledge of a particular topic and increase your confidence if faced with a similar case again.