BSAC Vanguard Series: Artificial intelligence and antibiotic stewardship

Antimicrobial stewardship is a key facet in preventing antimicrobial resistance but can be difficult to put into practice. Frontline providers are faced with the unknowns of pending culture data plus the urgency of appropriate antibiotic choice to prevent sepsis-related mortality; this often leads to broad-spectrum antibiotic prescribing. Currently available resources lack a customized approach to individual patients. Artificial intelligence (AI) focused on antimicrobial stewardship may create a unique opportunity to provide individualized, real-time recommendations to providers on appropriate, but narrower spectrum, antibiotic options. We envision that, with further advances in AI, personalized clinical decision support tools to optimize antibiotic prescribing could be available within the next decade.