We're Spreading the Word About Antibiotic Resistance

It's cold and flu season, and our Antimicrobial Stewardship team has been working hard to educate the public about the importance of proper antibiotic use.

We're spreading the word throughout our communities that antibiotics are important medications, but they should only be used when they are needed for specific types of bacterial infections. Using antibiotics for the wrong reasons can lead to resistance and unnecessary side effects.

Over the next month, you'll see these messages on WDBJ7’s website and billboards in Roanoke, Tazewell, Pearisburg, Radford, Rocky Mount, Lexington and Galax. 

The antibiotic stewardship team has also been working to support our clinicians with a suite of new tools and resources to improve antibiotic prescribing. The new Eolas Medical app is available for mobile and desktop. It provides clinicians with our organization's outpatient and inpatient treatment guidelines, dosing guidance, education and more at the point of care, where it is needed most. It launched in January, and more than 220 Carilion clinicians are using it.

To learn more about this topic, visit the Antimicrobial Stewardship hub.