Antibiotic stewardship in paediatrics

The judicious, targeted and restrictive use of antibiotics, or antibiotic stewardship (ABS), is an important contribution to increase the quality of medical treatment in paediatric inpatient care facilities and to guarantee patient safety. Many particular aspects of paediatric infectious diseases in terms of epidemiology, clinical presentation, diagnostics and treatment have to be considered. This peculiarity has been recognised by the German Medical Association in recent curriculum for the education and training of physicians assigned to ABS implementation in clinical practice. This review addresses the relevant specific features of ABS programs and ABS initiatives in paediatric inpatient care facilities and advocates the development and implementation of paediatric ABS guidelines by the AWMF.