Grant McArthur | August 08, 2008
A MELBOURNE-developed computer program that could save thousands of lives has taken the fight against killer superbugs to cyberspace.
The web-based prescribing program, designed by Royal Melbourne Hospital doctors, raises alarms when inappropriate or excessive quantities of antibiotics are prescribed. Such prescriptions are a major factor in the development of drug-resistant superbugs in hospitals.
Potentially fatal bugs such as MRSA are contracted by about 200,000 people in Australian hospitals each year.
They are most dangerous to the frail and elderly.
Preventing the overuse of antibiotics would reduce the chances of bacteria developing into antibiotic-resistant superbugs, infections expert Karin Thursky said.
She said 40 per cent of hospital patients were given antibiotics, half of which were inappropriately prescribed.
She said the Guidance DS program would have a huge impact as it was rolled out to 14 hospitals in Victoria and Tasmania, as it had done at the Royal Melbourne.
"We've successfully changed the pattern here and also at Peter Mac (Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre)," she said.
Other states are expected to adopt the system and there has also been interest from the US and Europe.
Herald Sun