Antimicrobial resistance: The health and financial impact on the current U.S. health care system

The nation's health care system has encountered an increase in health care costs, the age of the baby boomers, and growing public health concerns. One of the public health concerns is antimicrobial resistance and the creation of superbugs. Public health agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) claim that antimicrobial resistance is one of the world's most pressing public health problems (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013). Antimicrobial resistance has become a large problem for many reasons. One reason is that numerous strains of bacteria have become stronger and these bacterial strains have also become less responsive to antibiotic treatment. These strains of resistant bacteria can spread quickly to family members, schoolmates, and co-workers. The spread threatens communities with a new strain of infectious diseases that are also more difficult to cure and more expensive to treat. These threats to communities and the increase in costs is why antimicrobial resistance has become a top concern among the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013). The purpose of the literature review in this project will be to provide an extensive background on antimicrobial resistance. The literature review will discuss the many causes of antimicrobial resistance and what can be done to reduce the resistance. The approach and methods of this project will focus on two programs and five campaigns. The details about each program and campaign will be discussed as well as the target audience, the cost, and the effectiveness of each program and campaign. The findings will go into further detail about each program and campaign and compare them to 11 elements of a successful HIV/AIDS preventative program. A chart will display which elements each program and campaign have. The chart will be displayed showing which elements are strong, weak, and not available, for each program and campaign. APUA was found to be the most effective preventative program. Keywords: Health Care Administration, Mary Wilhelm-Chapin, antibiotics, medicine, medical, costs, NARMS.