Antibiotic stewardship, or the responsible prescribing habits of antibiotics, is on the decline in the U.S, and the spread of multidrug resistant bacterial infections through communities has already begun to be observed. Dr. Steven Brown, staff physician at Mercy Hospital in St. Louis, MO and Medical Director of the Lung Injury Center, likens antibiotic prescription expectations by patients to that of gameshow participants, where everyone presumes to take home a "prize" of some kind by the end of the encounter. How can clinicians counteract this trend in antibiotic prescription habits, and what are the risks of ignoring this mandate for better stewardship?
