Hospitals, GPs and aged care facilities are often inappropriately prescribing antimicrobial drugs such as penicillin to fight infections, a study shows.
Nearly 11 million Australians - or about half the population - were prescribed antimicrobials in 2014 to fight off nasties like bacterial and fungal infections, the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care found.
However, many of those prescriptions given out in hospitals, GP clinics and aged care homes were inappropriate, didn't comply with guidelines, or were simply unnecessary, the commission found.
Antimicrobials, which include antibiotics, can be lifesaving but overuse causes them to become ineffective.
In what is the first snapshot of antimicrobial use in Australia, the commission found 38 per cent of hospital patients received an antimicrobial on any given day in 2014.
But more than a fifth of those prescriptions were considered inappropriate, usually because they weren't needed or the type of antimicrobial or dose was wrong.
Nearly a quarter didn't comply with guidelines.
The most common reason for prescribing them was to prevent infections setting in at the site on the body where a surgeon had performed an operation. Forty per cent of those prescriptions were deemed inappropriate.
Outside of hospitals, penicillin was the most commonly prescribed antimicrobial.
Most prescriptions went to those over 65 and children under 10.
The commission said while there had been a drop in inappropriate antimicrobial prescriptions to treat upper respiratory tract infections such as colds, more than half of the prescriptions issued went against guidelines.
A large proportion of patients with acute tonsillitis, sinus inflammation, middle ear infections or acute bronchitis also received antimicrobials despite recommendations advising against their routine use.
In residential aged care homes, 11 per cent of residents were on antimicrobials despite fewer than half having a suspected or confirmed infection.
Of those who did have signs of an infection, only one third of the prescriptions were appropriate.
Compared to other countries that record data on antimicrobials, Australia has a high usage rate.
England and Scotland have higher rates, the commission said, but usage in Australia outstrips that in Denmark, Canada, Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands.
Commission senior medical adviser Professor John Turnidge hopes the report sets a baseline to help monitor future trends in antimicrobial use.
"Antimicrobial resistance is one of the most significant challenges for the delivery of safe, high-quality health services, and has a direct impact on patient care and patient outcomes," he said.
