• clincial management
• diagnosis
• emergency department
• infectious diseases
• infection

Antibiotics are frequently prescribed to patients admitted to emergency departments (EDs) and around half of these prescriptions are either unnecessary or inappropriate.1–4 Diagnostic uncertainty plays a major role in unnecessary prescriptions.4

The impact of EDs regarding antibiotic use goes far beyond these departments. The prescriptions initially started in ED are often continued in other departments or in the outpatient setting. Most junior doctors work at some point in EDs and are influenced by the antibiotic practices they observe there.

Antibiotic stewardship programmes (ASPs) are therefore much needed in EDs, all the more since bacterial resistance …