Antimicrobial Decision Making in the Resistance Era
Medicine is entering a post-certainty era of antimicrobial prescribing. In this opening session, a multidisciplinary panel moves beyond the theory of stewardship to examine how clinicians actually decide — case by case, under pressure, at the frontline.
Dept of Critical Care, UFS
Head: Infection Prevention & Control
PathCare/Vermaak & Wits DGMC
Mediclinic Constantiaberg & Cape Town
About This Webinar
Medicine is entering a post-certainty era of antimicrobial prescribing. Resistance patterns are shifting faster than ever before. Diagnostic uncertainty remains a daily reality. The pressure to treat immediately has never been greater, yet every antibiotic prescribed has the potential to compromise future effectiveness.
So how do clinicians make the right decision? How do we balance the needs of today's patient with tomorrow's? And when our trusted antibiotics are no longer enough, what are the options that remain?
In this, the first webinar in our RxShift™ Stewardship Programme, we move beyond the theory of antimicrobial stewardship to examine the realities of antimicrobial decision-making at the frontline of clinical practice.
Through a series of case-based discussions, our multidisciplinary panel explore the difficult decisions clinicians face every day — from selecting empiric therapy and interpreting microbiology results, to knowing when to escalate, when to de-escalate, and when conventional treatment pathways are no longer enough.
Join Professor Nadiya Ahmed, Surgeon & Intensivist; Dr Arifa Parker, Infectious Diseases Specialist and infection prevention expert; Dr Warren Lowman, Consultant Clinical Microbiologist; and emergency physician Dr Chanel Robinson as they share practical insights from their own clinical experience.
Together they examine the evidence, debate the grey areas, and discuss pragmatic approaches that clinicians can apply immediately in emergency departments, hospital wards, intensive care units and everyday practice.
Watch on-demand as we challenge conventional thinking, explore the realities of antimicrobial prescribing, and help change the narrative around antimicrobial stewardship.
By the end of this session, you will be able to
Built for the whole prescribing team
Meet our Faculty
Four specialists from across the antimicrobial care pathway — infectious diseases, infection prevention & control, clinical microbiology, and emergency medicine — sharing practical insights from their own clinical experience.
University of the Free State
Stellenbosch University & Tygerberg Hospital
Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre
Associate Professor Nadiya Ahmed is a Surgeon and Intensivist at the University of the Free State and Group General Manager of Medical Services at Mediclinic.
Her dual perspective — as a critical care specialist who works at the sharp end of complex clinical decision-making, and as a senior medical executive within a large private hospital group — positions her to speak to both the clinical and the institutional conditions that shape antimicrobial prescribing on the frontline.
She brings the critical care and systems lens: what happens at the bedside under pressure, what drives the gap between guideline and practice, and what structural changes within hospitals and health systems are required to support better stewardship for more patients.
Dr Arifa Parker is an infectious diseases specialist and Head of the Unit for Infection Prevention and Control at Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Hospital. She is the Immediate Past President of the Infectious Diseases Society of Southern Africa (IDSSA) and serves on the board of the Infection Control Africa Network (ICAN).
Her clinical and academic interests include infection prevention and control, antimicrobial stewardship, healthcare epidemiology, and the complex relationship between infectious diseases and non-communicable diseases. Dr Parker is widely recognised for her work to improve healthcare quality and patient safety across Africa through the application of clinical and epidemiological research.
In recognition of her contributions, she was named a finalist in the prestigious National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF)-South32 Awards in the NSTF-SAMRC Clinician-Scientist Award category, honouring outstanding early-career clinician-scientists for excellence in biomedical research conducted predominantly in South Africa.
Dr Warren Lowman is a Consultant Pathologist in Clinical Microbiology and Infection Prevention & Control at Pathcare/Vermaak Pathologists and Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre. He is also an Honorary Lecturer in the Department of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at the Wits School of Pathology, University of the Witwatersrand.
With almost two decades dedicated to clinical microbiology, Warren has built a reputation for combining scientific rigour with a deeply practical approach to patient care. His work focuses on the clinical application of microbiological diagnostics, particularly in specialised care settings, where laboratory findings translate directly into treatment decisions.
His particular interests include bacteriology, hospital-acquired infections, multidrug-resistant organisms, antimicrobial therapy, and infection prevention and control. He is actively involved in hospital surveillance programmes and spends his time balancing laboratory diagnostics with clinical ward rounds, particularly in intensive care and transplant medicine.
He serves on the executive committee of the South African Society of Clinical Microbiology and is widely recognised for his contribution to education and advancing best practice in infectious diseases and microbiology.
Dr Chanel Robinson is an emergency doctor in private practice, heading up the emergency units at Constantiaberg and Cape Town hospitals alongside her partners. She holds a PhD from the University of the Witwatersrand and remains actively engaged in clinical research, working to deepen understanding within emergency medicine. She is committed to improving patient outcomes through evidence-based practice and collaborative care.
