Kirsty Buising

• 
  Professor
  Kirsty Buising

  kirsty.buising@mh.org.au

Research Overview

The team at the Doherty Institute work on better understanding how antimicrobials are used in clinical practice, be it general practice, hospitals or aged care settings . We also work alongside our veterinary colleagues to improve understanding of antimicrobial use animal health. We collect meaningful antimicrobial usage data using customised audit tools (the National Antimicrobial Prescribing Surveys) and explore perceptions that might be driving this use (through qualitative work). The team are involved in guideline authorship to help address and improve prescribing. They also develop trial implement and study interventions to improve antimicrobial use. This has included computerised decision support for prescribers within clinical workflows, and patient directed information to guide discussion and decision making.

The team have long held an interest in developing systems to support ongoing improvement in antimicrobial use, and adapting these systems to suit different contexts including regional and rural hospital settings in Australia and international contexts. We are also involved in research to examine public messaging in about antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance.

The team also regularly engage in training and professional development in antimicrobial use for many groups including doctors, pharmacists, and nurses. Our recent work has involved providing assistance with capacity building local leaders in countries in our region to address the challenge of antimicrobial resistance. This we do with antimicrobial stewardship alongside microbiology laboratory strengthening and infection prevention and control activities.

Our position in the Doherty means we can work alongside experts in microbiology and infection prevention to help understand how these disciplines can work together to address the public health threat of antimicrobial resistance.

Funding

• Medical Research Future Fund – Global Health AMR
  2020-2022. Improving responses to outbreaks in Fiji using infection prevention capacity building and incorporating microbial genomics
• Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade – Health Systems security AMR in the Pacific
  2020-2022. Building capacity in IPC, AMS, Microbiology laboratory and Animal Health. In Fiji Samoa, Solomon Islands and PNG.
• Commonwealth Department of Health. Co-design and evaluation of decision aids for antibiotic use in general practice, 2019

Research Publications

1. Developing a Clinical Decision Support Tool for Appropriate Antibiotic Prescribing in Australian General Practice: A Simulation Study.Manski-Nankervis JA, Biezen R, Thursky K, Boyle D, Clark M, Lo S, Buising K.Med Decis Making. 2020 Jun 8
2. Optimizing treatment of respiratory tract infections in nursing homes: Nurse-initiated polymerase chain reaction testing. Dowson L, Marshall C, Buising K, Friedman ND, Kong DCM, Stuart RL. Am J Infect Control. 2019 Mar 6.
3. Similarities and differences in antimicrobial prescribing between major city hospitals and regional and remote hospitals in Australia. Bishop JL, Schulz TR, Kong DCM, James R, Buising KL. Int J Antimicrob Agents. 2019 Feb;53(2):171-176.
4. Utilizing genomic analyses to investigate the first outbreak of vanA vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus in Australia with emergence of daptomycin non-susceptibility. Douglas AP, Marshall C, Baines SL, Ritchie D, Szer J, Madigan V, Chan HT, Ballard SA, Howden BP, Buising K, Slavin MA. J Med Microbiol. 2019 Mar;68(3):303-308
5. Qualitative study of the factors impacting antimicrobial stewardship programme delivery in regional and remote hospitals. Bishop JL, Schulz TR, Kong DCM, Buising KL. J Hosp Infect. 2019 Apr;101(4):440-446