AIMED stands for five essential principles that seek to optimise patient treatment with antimicrobials (antibiotics).

Antimicrobial stewardship 101 – excellent overview from McKenzie, Rawlins and Del Mar in Australian Prescriber.

• Antimicrobial selection and dosage should be compliant with guideline recommendations.
• Indication for antimicrobial treatment should be documented.
• Microbiological assessment– always consider and collect necessary specimens PRIOR to first dose.
• Evaluate patient at 48-72 hours- assess whether antimicrobial treatment should be modified or ceased (de-escalation).
• Duration or review date should always be specified.

Improving antimicrobial use across medicine, veterinary practice and agricultural settings is also an essential part of strategies to curb antimicrobial resistance, worldwide and locally.

Under Australian hospital safety and quality accreditation standards, all facilities must have in place antimicrobial stewardship programs (criterion 3.14 below).  These must involve audit and analysis of antimicrobial usage and promote adherence to the prescribing principles above.