In medical care, qualified physicians, nurses, and pharmacists have come to be recognized as a team integral to a patient's success, and this team approach to medical care has become popular. In the infectious disease field, more hospitals are practicing antimicrobial stewardship as a team, in addition to the conventional infection control team (ICT). As a result, infectious disease chemotherapy pharmacists are in demand. However, this specific qualification is hard to acquire for pharmacists working in a primary care pharmacy. The problem of multidrug-resistant bacteria is of vital interest today. The National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance 2016-2020, published in Japan, includes an aim to largely reduce the consumption of each oral antimicrobial agent, in order to control the emergence of resistant bacteria. Hospitals and primary care pharmacies will achieve this aim differently. For infection control by primary care pharmacies, the emergence control of a resistant bacteria is important, as is the control of outbreak in a region.
Keywords: antimicrobial resistance; infection control; primary care pharmacy.