The pharmacy team is well-placed to provide advice for patients with self-limiting infections. Promoting self care and managing patient expectations by explaining the likely duration of self-limiting infections (see Table 1) is important. For instance, one-third of the public believe that antibiotics will treat coughs and colds and one in five people expect antibiotics when they visit their doctor.

Getting the message across

There are plenty of opportunities to raise awareness of antibiotic resistance. Public Health England’s new Keep Antibiotics Working campaign returns on 23 October (see front cover story), European Antibiotic Awareness Day (EAAD) is on 18 November and the World Health Organization’s World Antibiotic Awareness Week runs during the same week.