In-hospital antibiotherapy. Organization.

France is one of the countries where the consumption of antibioticsis the highest. Consequently, the situation regarding the resistanceof bacteria to antibiotics is preoccupying, in hospitals aswell as in general medicine. In the actual European antibiotic policycontext, France has to improve the control of the antibioticconsumption. A tangible national antibiotic policy has to be implementedurgently.The recent ministerial decisions and those to come, concerning therational use of antibiotics in hospitals (National program to preservethe antibiotics efficacy 2001-2005), as well as the conclusionsof the 14th Consensus Conference organized by the FrenchSociety of Infectious Diseases about the question “How to improvethe quality of in -hospital antibiotherapy” could change thesituation positively.