Strategies for Communicating and Collaborating with the Patient, Family, or Group to Improve Outcomes Associated with Antibiotic Resistance

The impact of antibiotics cuts across communities and may affect anyone within these settings. Esme et al. (2019) report that older adults are more susceptible to infections from antibiotic-resistant strains because of their high frequency of hospital visitation, high pill burden, and comorbidity. This warrants a multimodal approach to their management. Working with older groups and their families is thus an important strategy for minimizing the development of antibiotic resistance. This engagement is significant in establishing a good therapeutic relationship between caregivers and these groups. This will ensure caregivers gather input from these groups and understand their perspectives on aspects of their management.

Patients’ participation in therapeutic processes remains important. Varghese et al. (2020) report that the inclusion of patients and their families in the therapeutic processes ensures patients’ satisfaction with the care process. It also increases their knowledge of presentation aspects and their role in disease management. Through these engagements, caregivers can gather information on the patient’s perspectives on antibiotic use and educate them on the rational use of these medications to preserve community lives.

For successful patient-caregiver engagements and subsequent improvements in clinical outcomes, best practices in communicating and collaborating with patients and their families are warranted. Tailoring the message to individual patients, maintaining clarity, active listening, maintaining attentiveness, and using “I” statements are some of the effective communication strategies valuable when engaging patients (Mheidly & Fares, 2020). Team collaboration is also necessary when engaging patients and their families. Information sharing through patients’ educational approaches, respect, communicating effectively, and cooperating with the patients will ensure effective collaborations between the patients and their caregivers (McLaney et al., 2022). I intend to use these strategies when engaging and communicating with my patients. Through these approaches, I can develop a good therapeutic relationship with them. This will enable me to inform them about infection control standards and how they can be accountable when taking antibiotics.