Consequences of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy: Overgrowth, Resistance, and Virulence -- The Process of Antibiotic Prescribing: Can It Be Changed? -- Cultural and Socioeconomic Determinants of Antibiotic Use -- Electronic Prescribing -- Prevalence Surveys of Antimicrobial Use in Hospitals: Purpose, Practicalities, and Pitfalls -- Antibiotic Use in Hospitals in the United States SCOPE-MMIT Antimicrobial Surveillance Network -- New Hospital Initiatives in Fighting Resistance -- Antimicrobial Resistance: Preventable or Inevitable? -- Fighting Antimicrobial Resistance in the Mediterranean Region -- Cystic Fibrosis—Coping with Resistance -- Community-Acquired Pneumonia—Back to Basics -- Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia: Diagnostic and Treatment Options -- Optimizing Antimicrobial Chemotherapy in the ICU—A Review -- Risk Assessment for Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus -- What Do We Do with Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Surgery? -- Control of Healthcare-Associated Methicillin-ResistantStaphylococcus aureus.

Antibiotic resistance has reached epidemic proportions in most hospitals and many communities around the world. While control methods have traditionally (and usually unsuccessfully) relied on preventing cross infection it is increasingly obvious that new solutions are needed. There is growing evidence that the solution will lie in more careful use of antibiotics in the future. The golden age of antibiotic therapy has gone, probably for good and prescribers (and society at large) will have to accept that, in future, antibiotics will not be the "cure all" we have been accustomed to. This book addresses many of the key issues taxing our society and hospitals in an era of epidemic resistance and shortage of new antibiotics. Written by internationally renowned experts in the field, this volume will provide practical advice and inform control strategies for the most urgent of problems related to antibiotic resistance epidemic for years to come. Antibiotic Policies: Fighting Resistance is an ideal volume for health professionals with an interest in this field.