Team Learning Packs · Infectious diseases · Quality use of medicines
Antimicrobial stewardship across the practice team
Antimicrobial stewardship is a whole-of-practice responsibility. Prescribers complete the AMS module; the team then audits practice prescribing patterns and agrees a one-month behaviour-change experiment using delayed-prescription protocols, patient handouts, or red-flag checklists.
Individual learning by role.
Each clinical team member completes their profession's module before the team huddle. Where a role has no profession- specific module yet, that member joins the huddle and contributes from their discipline.
GP (RACGP / ACRRM)
antimicrobial stewardship ›Full prescribing-focused module; pair with the antibiotics-URTI self-audit benchmark.
Registered nurse / Midwife
antimicrobial stewardship ›Same module — covers the team's role in triage, patient education, and audit.
Pharmacist
antimicrobial stewardship ›Module covers community-pharmacist role; pair with deprescribing benchmarks where relevant.
Physiotherapist
Huddle-only role
No profession-specific module — join the huddle and contribute on referrals to GP for infection assessment and on infection-control practice in physio settings.
Psychologist
Huddle-only role
No profession-specific module — join the huddle for the practice-wide implementation discussion.
Antimicrobial stewardship implementation huddle
Duration: 60 minutes. One person chairs (typically the practice administrator). No slides required — the agenda below is the structure.
Agenda
0-10 min
Share self-audit results: each prescriber reports their estimated antibiotic-prescribing rate for URTI from the benchmarks tool. No judgement — these are starting points.
10-25 min
Identify the two or three patient scenarios where the practice over-prescribes (often: green sputum acute bronchitis, parental pressure for paediatric URTI, returning travellers).
25-45 min
Discuss specific behavioural tools: delayed-prescription protocol, patient handouts, red-flag checklists, deferral language scripts. Agree on one or two to trial.
45-60 min
Implementation planning: who, what, when. Set a re-audit date in 8 weeks.
Discussion prompts
- What's the most common 'just-in-case' antibiotic prescription in this practice, and what would replace it?
- Where do patient expectations most strongly drive antibiotic prescriptions, and how do we hold the line without damaging the therapeutic relationship?
- How do we communicate antibiotic decisions to reception and nursing staff so the team's response is consistent?
- Are there specific demographic groups (children, the elderly, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients) where our prescribing pattern deserves separate consideration?
Implementation actions
A starter list. Pick one or two to trial in the next four weeks.
- Adopt a delayed-prescription protocol for uncomplicated URTI in the next 4 weeks.
- Print and distribute a patient handout on viral URTI for the waiting room.
- Schedule a re-audit of antibiotic prescribing rate in 8 weeks using the benchmarks tool.
- Block 20 minutes in the next clinical meeting to discuss any prescribing decisions team members found difficult.
CPD eligibility
The huddle and follow-up audit count as Reviewing Performance and Measuring Outcomes hours for each clinical participant under self-attestation. Suggested logging: 1.0 hour RP for the huddle + 0.5 hour MO for the re-audit, in addition to the module hours.
Run this pack with your team.
The pack itself is free to use — no PracticaCPD subscription required to view the huddle template, run the meeting, or log the result manually. Pro / Practice subscriptions unlock the modules and the team-progress dashboard.