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Antibiotics

Be Antibiotics Aware: Smart Use, Best Care

Did You Know?

• The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services' Division of Public Health is an active participant in the Be Antibiotics Aware: Smart Use, Best Care (formerly Get Smart about Antibiotics) Campaign.
• Antibiotic resistance – when bacteria stop responding to the drugs designed to kill them – may be the single most important infectious disease threat of our time.
• We risk turning back the clock to a world where simple infections can kill people as they did a century ago because we have no way to treat them.
• Antibiotics are the most important tool we have to combat many life-threatening bacterial diseases.
• Patients, healthcare providers, hospital administrators, and policy makers must work together to employ effective strategies for improving appropriate antibiotic use – ultimately saving lives.

To limit antibiotic resistance, DPH is warning the public and providers to be aware that:

• Antibiotics do not cure viruses, such as those causing colds or flu, most coughs and bronchitis, runny nose, and sore throats not caused by strep.
• Increased antibiotic resistance is compromising the effectiveness of antibiotics.
• Patients, healthcare providers, hospital administrators and policy makers must work together to employ effective strategies for improving appropriate antibiotic use - ultimately saving lives.

Current Activities

STAR Partners campaign: A statewide antimicrobial stewardship initiative

US Antibiotics Awareness Week 2018 is November 12-18. Information about planned activities to encourage the public and healthcare providers to use antibiotics carefully and appropriately will be forthcoming.

Antibiotic Ally/Provider Posters: The NC Get Smart Campaign is reminding clinicians to appropriately prescribe antibiotics and display commitment posters throughout their facility.

Get Smart Kids Artwork Competition: To celebrate U.S. Antibiotics Awareness Week 2017, the NC Get Smart Campaign hosted our second Kids’ Artwork Competition. Forty children submitted artwork, and 5 winners were selected. The winning artwork will be displayed in healthcare facilities and schools across the state. See the winning posters below. To order, send an email.

2017 Artwork Competition Winners

2016 Artwork Competition Winners

Current Resources

6 Smart Facts: The NC Get Smart Campaign created a useful handout for patients describing key facts on antibiotics and infections.

Provider Commitment Poster: The NC Get Smart Campaign created a poster indicating provider and facility commitment to appropriate prescribing. The poster can be displayed in exam rooms and waiting rooms to bring patient awareness to the facility’s antibiotic stewardship initiative.

 

CDC Appropriate Antibiotic Use Materials

To receive printed versions of these materials, email nchai@dhhs.nc.gov.

Educational Resources

School-age Curriculum

Medical/Professional School Curriculum

Continuing Education/Educational Resources for Healthcare Professionals

NC Get Smart Campaign Partners

NC Quality Center