Paediatric stewardship

SAPG Paediatric Stewardship Steering Group aims to provide national consensus on use of antibiotics and investigations to optimise prophylaxis, empirical and targeted treatment strategies and to minimise unnecessary use and resistance development.

Resources for the management of children with respiratory tract infections

This resource for the management of children with respiratory tract infections brings together information and tools to allow prescribers to make informed choices about when antibiotics would be recommended and when they are unlikely to benefit the patient.

Updated advice on surgical antibiotic prophylaxis in adults and children

Good practice recommendations for surgical antibiotic prophylaxis in adults and children in NHS Scotland is based on the available evidence and national consensus to support clinicians in using antibiotics effectively to prevent surgical site infections.

Updated advice on antimicrobial management of Clostridioides difficile (C.diff) Infection (CDI) in children

SAPG Committee and SAPG Paediatric Stewardship Steering Group has updated advice on antimicrobial management of Clostridioides difficile (C.diff) Infection (CDI) in children based on the NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) guideline on Clostridioides difficile infection: antimicrobial prescribing

(For adults aged 18 and over please refer to updated advice on antimicrobial management of Clostridioides difficile (C.diff) Infection (CDI))

Urinary tract infections

In collaboration with NHS Education for Scotland we have developed an education module and supporting quality improvement tools to optimise the use of antibiotics for prevention and treatment of urinary tract infection in children.

Empiric antibiotic guidelines

BSAC Paediatric Pathways is a useful resource for antimicrobial management teams and boards to use to support development of empirical paediatric antimicrobial guidelines in secondary care. The guidance is comprehensive in its inclusion of infections, and is well-resourced and user friendly offering useful direction in the management of some less common infections.  The guideline is under a process of continual review and update by the UK PAS group, supporting up to date practice. Prescribing recommendation is based on UK data and consideration should be given to local resistance patterns and prescribing in the Scottish context.

EUCAST change in dosing recommendations

Greater Glasgow and Clyde have created the following guideline to support the change in EUCAST recommendations in the paediatric population:

NHSGGC - Isolates reported as 'I' (susceptible increased exposure) - dosing schedules for neonates and children (scot.nhs.uk)

SAPG review of Antimicrobial Management Team workforce (March 2022)  highlighted the need to improve paediatric stewardship across Scotland

Content updated January 2024