草莓污视频导航

Herman Barkema and Dana Jelinski were part of a collaboration, led by John Conly, that developed a smartphone app that gives veterinarians guidelines for prescribing optimal antibiotic dosages.
Riley Brandt, 草莓污视频导航

Nov. 24, 2021

Optimal use of antibiotics in animals? There鈥檚 an app for that

草莓污视频导航-led team develops veterinary smartphone app to help tackle antimicrobial resistance

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the top 10 global health threats facing humanity, according to the World Health Organization. The misuse and overuse of antimicrobials are two key reasons for the increase in bacteria that no longer respond to medicines.

A new tool to help veterinarians combat AMR has been developed though a collaboration between the 草莓污视频导航, the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA), and Stewardship of Antimicrobials by Veterinarians Initiative working with Firstline 鈥 Clinical Decisions.

  • Photo above:聽Herman Barkema and Dana Jelinski were part of a collaboration, led by John Conly, that developed a smartphone app that gives veterinarians guidelines for prescribing optimal antibiotic dosages.
John Conly

The idea came from a similar novel app, which John Conly had helped develop for human health at the 草莓污视频导航 and Alberta Health Services.

鈥淭his app gives veterinarians guidelines for prescribing antibiotics for species-specific conditions. This is a novel tool which we hope will help promote the optimal use of antibiotics with the aim of reducing antimicrobial resistance,鈥 says Dr. John Conly, MD, infectious disease specialist at the .

The idea came from a similar novel app, which Conly had helped develop for human health at the 草莓污视频导航 and Alberta Health Services.

鈥淲e saw this as an excellent opportunity to make that happen for animal health,鈥 says Dr. Herman Barkema, DVM, PhD, professor of epidemiology of infectious diseases at the 草莓污视频导航 and scientific director of the Alberta-wide AMR - One Health Consortium, who worked on the project.

Useful treatment info for multiple species in the palm of your hand

Herman Barkema

Herman Barkema says the app will also be a tool that veterinarians can use in discussion with farmers.

鈥淭hen we thought, okay, we don't just want to make an app, we want it to be really useful and we want it to be used,鈥 says Barkema. 鈥淪o, the team at 草莓污视频导航 connected with the people at the CVMA and with their working groups on antimicrobials. Because for human health, it's only one species. In veterinary medicine, we have all these species with different conditions that we want to tackle.鈥

鈥淭he goal was to successfully create a true algorithmic digital app to facilitate optimal veterinary prescribing of antibiotics from the palm of your hand,鈥 adds Conly.

To our knowledge, this is one of the first digital apps to facilitate antimicrobial prescribing for veterinarians, and the U of C research team has been at the forefront.

The newly launched offers point-of-care treatment recommendations and other reference material for a wide range of animal health conditions in a wide range of species. It鈥檚 an ideal tool for rural mixed-practice veterinarians who treat companion animals like cats and dogs, as well as cattle, pigs, poultry, horses, and other species.

In the palm of your hand: point-of-care treatment recommendations for a wide range of animal health conditions in a wide range of species

The app is available to veterinarians, veterinary technicians, and veterinary students across Canada who are CVMA members. Users who aren鈥檛 registered with the CVMA can email Firstline 鈥 Clinical Decisions to receive a courtesy download.

Helping reduce antimicrobial resistance one sick animal at time

Barkema says while veterinarians won鈥檛 pull up the app for every case of an infectious disease, particularly the more common ones, 鈥渘ot only will some of the considerations be new to them, it will also be a tool that they can use in discussion with the farmers.鈥

Conly calls it a true One Health app, because ensuring veterinarians choose the most appropriate antibiotic for the disease they鈥檙e tackling will help reduce drug resistance that might impact the health of animals, people, and the environment.

鈥淥ne of the main measures of success will be if this initiative takes off globally,鈥 says Conly. 鈥淪uch a platform can be a used as a stepping stone for multiple jurisdictions around the world 鈥斅燼 platform for others to emulate globally that facilitates optimal prescribing for use of antimicrobials in animals that are critically important agents for humans.鈥

John Conly is a professor in the departments of Medicine, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Microbiology, Immunology and Infectious Diseases and member of the and the at the Cumming School of Medicine (CSM). He is the medical director of the W21C Research and Innovation Centre.

Herman Barkema is a professor in the Department of Production Animal Health at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the CSM. He is also a member of the O鈥橞rien Institute for Public Health and the Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases at the CSM. He is the director and the .