Getting defensive about antimicrobial orders unfortunately tends to be common when we are confronted with inappropriate use. After all, physicians have a licence to prescribe, so why should they be questioned? Yet the same physicians have willingly relinquished responsibilities over the years to other healthcare groups; for example, pharmacists now calculate total parental nutrition. Some physicians who welcome the assistance realise that the plethora of guidelines and the armamentarium of antimicrobials need to be managed correctly.

Superfluous antimicrobials have led to increased resistance and adverse events. In the …