Combating Drug Resistance in The Intensive Care Unit (ICU)

Drug resistance of microbes has become a major stumbling block to treating patients successfully in the ICU. There is no doubt that microbes have the capacity to mutate or acquire drug destroying enzymes, but a multitude of errors by health care providers plays a major role in facilitating the development of resistance. The maintenance of drug use discipline in closed ICUs and having a responsive microbiology department are the first steps towards prevention of microbe resistance. Having an infection control committee that is able to collect and disseminate data is the next essential step. Education of health care providers to provide uniformity of health care according to set guidelines is the culmination of this towards the goal of minimizing the development of anti microbial resistance.