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In this third collaboration between SIDP’s Breakpoints and ESCMID’s Communicable podcasts, hosts Erin McCreary and Angela Huttner invite two veteran authors of guidelines and guidances, Pranita Tamma (Philadelphia, USA) and Benedikt Huttner (WHO, Geneva, Switzerland) [1-3]. Together, they deconstruct the complex landscape of developing and implementing guidelines into digestible components: they discuss why different organizations develop guidelines and what need they hope to fulfil, the framework including the GRADE methodology under which guidelines are written, and major barriers in the uptake of guidelines. The conversation also details the distinction between guideline and guidance as well as the art and science behind formulating recommendations or suggestions, with a few anecdotal cases sprinkled in from the panel.
References
1. WHO handbook for guideline development, 2nd Edition, https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241548960
2. The WHO AWaRe (Access, Watch, Reserve) antibiotic book https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240062382
3. IDSA 2024 Guidance on the Treatment of Antimicrobial Resistant Gram-Negative Infections, https://www.idsociety.org/practice-guideline/amr-guidance/
Guests
Pranita Tamma, MD, MHS
Dr. Pranita Tamma is an associate professor of Pediatrics in the division of infectious diseases and the director of the Pediatric antimicrobial stewardship program at The John Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her research focuses on elucidating the mechanisms of resistance and gram-negative organisms and identifying optimal treatment strategies for patients infected with multi-drug resistant gram-negative infections. Dr. Tamma is an editor at Antimicrobial Agents in Chemotherapy, a voting member of the Clinical Laboratory and Standards Institute, antibiotic susceptibility testing subgroup that provides international guidance on establishing antibiotic breakpoints and phenotypic and genotypic methods for identifying antimicrobial resistance, and she’s the lead author of The Infectious Diseases Society of America, antimicrobial Resistance Treatment Guidance.
Benedikt Huttner
Dr. Benedikt Huttner, the current unit Head of Research, access Stewardship, and AMU surveillance, which is RSA in the Department of Antimicrobial Resistance of the World Health Organization. He previously served the WHO as Secretary of the Expert Committee on the selection and use of Essential Medicines and the team Lead of Essential Medicines. Dr. Huttner obtained his medical degree in Munich, Germany in 2001, and then moved to Switzerland where he went on to train in infectious diseases and serve in infection control and the division of Infectious diseases of Geneva University Hospitals for over 15 years. Between 2010 and 2012, he completed a research fellowship in Salt Lake City, where he obtained a master’s degree in clinical research. His research focused on antimicrobial resistance, antimicrobial stewardship, and appropriate use of medicines in general at the WHO, Dr. Huttner was instrumental in the development of the WHO Aware antibiotic book and has participated in numerous WHO guideline steering committees. Before joining WHO, he was also a member of the ESCMID Guidelines Subcommittee from 2018 to 2021 and the Guidelines Committee of the Swiss Society for Infectious Diseases.
