The Stewardship Dashboard provides clear, actionable views of your antimicrobial use practices. The dashboard focuses on practical indicators reflecting responsible use. Treatment completion rates, veterinary consultation frequency, withdrawal period compliance, appropriate medication selection. These indicators combine into a stewardship score. Understand your current practices. Identify specific improvement opportunities.

This chapter explains how the dashboard works, what each indicator means, and how to use insights for continuous improvement.

Your Stewardship Score

Understanding the Score

Your stewardship score (0-100) reflects antimicrobial use practice quality. Higher scores indicate better stewardship. These practices preserve antimicrobial effectiveness while maintaining animal health. The score is calculated from six key factors:

Treatment Completion (25% of score): Whether you finish the full prescribed course, even when animals appear recovered. Completing treatments prevents resistant bacteria from surviving and multiplying.

Withdrawal Period Compliance (20% of score): How consistently you respect withdrawal periods before using animal products for food. Perfect compliance protects food safety. Demonstrates responsible practice.

Veterinary Consultation (20% of score): How frequently you consult with veterinarians or trained animal health workers before using antimicrobials. Professional guidance ensures appropriate medication selection and proper dosing.

Appropriate Use (15% of score): Using antimicrobials for therapeutic purposes (treating sick animals) rather than preventive overuse. Following approved uses rather than off-label applications. Choosing recommended first-line treatments rather than broad-spectrum or reserve antimicrobials.

Proper Storage and Handling (10% of score): Maintaining medication effectiveness through correct storage temperatures, expiration date checks, proper administration techniques. Assessed indirectly through treatment effectiveness and completion.

Record-Keeping Quality (10% of score): Completeness and accuracy of your antimicrobial documentation. Better records support traceability, accountability, evidence-based decision-making.

Score Ranges

70-100: Excellent Stewardship: Your practices demonstrate responsible antimicrobial use. Continue these practices. Share your success with others.

40-69: Needs Improvement: Your practices show some responsible elements but have significant room for improvement. Focus on specific recommendations to strengthen stewardship and reduce resistance risk.

0-39: Needs Attention: Your practices require immediate attention and improvement. Incomplete treatments, missed veterinary consultations, or withdrawal violations create risks. Prioritise recommendations. Consider seeking professional support.

Trend Influence

Your score is also influenced by trends in antimicrobial use over recent months. Decreasing usage (while maintaining animal health) earns a stewardship bonus. Reduced antimicrobial use generally indicates better preventive health management. Increasing usage may indicate developing health issues needing investigation. Earns a stewardship penalty to encourage review of underlying causes.

Progress Tracking Indicators

Treatment Completion Rate

What It Measures: Percentage of antimicrobial treatments where full prescribed course was completed. Compares planned duration to actual duration across all recorded treatments.

Why It Matters: Stopping treatment early allows strongest, most resistant bacteria to survive. These bacteria multiply and spread. Makes future treatments less effective. Completing full course ensures all susceptible bacteria are eliminated. Prevents resistance development.

Target: 95%+: Nearly all treatments should be completed as prescribed. Occasional exceptions: animal dies, treatment proves ineffective and needs changing, veterinarian advises discontinuation. Consistently achieving 95%+ demonstrates disciplined stewardship.

Improvement Strategies: Set calendar reminders for each dose. Keep antimicrobials accessible. Educate all staff about completion importance. Record treatments immediately. Mark animals receiving treatment for easy identification.

Withdrawal Period Compliance

What It Measures: Percentage of treatments where withdrawal periods were properly observed before animal products entered food chain. Includes waiting required time before selling or consuming meat, milk, eggs, other products.

Why It Matters: Antimicrobial residues in food can cause allergic reactions, contribute to resistance through environmental exposure, violate food safety regulations. Proper withdrawal periods protect consumer health. Maintain market access.

Target: 100%: No exceptions to withdrawal compliance. Any violation is food safety failure and regulatory violation. Could result in product seizure, fines, or loss of market access.

Improvement Strategies: Mark treated animals clearly (paint marks, leg bands, separate housing). Post withdrawal end dates visibly. Use calendar alerts. Implement buddy-checking where two people verify compliance. Maintain separate holding areas for animals in withdrawal. Double-check withdrawal periods before any slaughter or product collection.

Veterinary Consultation Rate

What It Measures: Percentage of antimicrobial treatments involving consultation with licensed veterinarian or trained animal health worker before administration. Includes prescriptions, clinical guidance, diagnostic support.

Why It Matters: Professional guidance ensures antimicrobials are truly needed, right medication is selected, dosing is appropriate, treatment duration is correct. Consultation reduces inappropriate use. Improves treatment effectiveness. Demonstrates responsible practice.

Target: 80%+: Most antimicrobial use should be veterinary-guided. Some experienced operators may have standing protocols for common conditions. Should be balanced against stewardship principles.

Improvement Strategies: Establish relationships with veterinarians before emergencies occur. Use phone or video consultation for guidance. Develop written treatment protocols with veterinary approval. Participate in herd health programmes with regular veterinary visits. Document when treatments follow established protocols. Seek consultation for any unusual symptoms or treatment failures.

Proper Storage Rate

What It Measures: Percentage of antimicrobial treatments likely properly stored and handled. Assessed indirectly through treatment effectiveness and completion patterns. Properly stored antimicrobials maintain full effectiveness. Improperly stored products may lose potency.

Why It Matters: Antimicrobials stored at incorrect temperatures, exposed to sunlight, or kept past expiration dates lose effectiveness. Using degraded antimicrobials wastes resources, delays animal recovery, can contribute to resistance by delivering sub-therapeutic doses.

Target: 90%+: Nearly all antimicrobials should be stored properly. Occasional storage lapses might occur during field work or emergencies. Routine storage should follow product requirements.

Improvement Strategies: Maintain dedicated refrigerator for medications requiring cold storage. Keep antimicrobials in original packaging with instructions. Implement first-in-first-out inventory rotation. Check expiration dates monthly. Remove expired products. Store away from direct sunlight and heat sources. Follow manufacturer temperature recommendations. Use insulated carriers for field work.

Record-Keeping Quality

What It Measures: Completeness and accuracy of antimicrobial documentation. Assessed through data completeness levels (basic, moderate, complete) across treatment records.

Why It Matters: Complete records support traceability, demonstrate responsible practices, meet regulatory requirements, enable outcome analysis, provide foundation for continuous improvement. Poor records prevent learning from experience. May fail compliance audits.

Target: 80%+: Most records should achieve moderate or complete documentation. Basic records may be acceptable for routine treatments. Important cases, unusual conditions, or treatments with poor outcomes deserve comprehensive documentation.

Improvement Strategies: Create treatment recording templates or checklists. Record information immediately while details are fresh. Include clinical signs and reasoning, not just medication names. Photograph product labels to ensure accurate product information. Train all staff on record-keeping standards and importance. Review record quality periodically. Provide feedback. Make recording devices (tablets, smartphones) readily available.

Stewardship Recommendations

The dashboard generates personalised recommendations based on your specific practices and scores. Recommendations are prioritised by impact. Addressing suggestions provides most significant stewardship improvements.

Types of Recommendations

Treatment Completion Reminders: If completion rates are below target, receive specific reminders about treatments stopped early. Guidance on preventing incomplete courses.

Veterinary Consultation Encouragement: If consultation rates are low, system suggests situations when professional guidance would be valuable. Provides practical ways to increase access to veterinary support.

Withdrawal Period Alerts: If compliance is imperfect, receive specific alerts about treatments approaching withdrawal end dates, recent violations, or high-risk situations requiring extra attention.

Appropriate Use Guidance: If preventive use is high, off-label use is frequent, or reserve antimicrobials are being used as first-line treatments, recommendations address these patterns with evidence-based alternatives.

Storage and Handling Reminders: If effectiveness patterns suggest storage issues, recommendations provide specific guidance on proper storage requirements and handling practices.

Record-Keeping Improvement: If documentation is incomplete, recommendations identify specific fields that would most improve record quality and support stewardship monitoring.

Acting on Recommendations

Recommendations are guidance based on evidence-based stewardship principles, not prescriptive rules. Your specific circumstances (species managed, operation type, regional practices, available resources) should inform how you apply recommendations. The goal is continuous improvement over time, not perfection overnight.

Quick Actions

The dashboard provides convenient access to practical tools:

Track a Treatment: Open treatment recording interface to quickly document antimicrobial administration. Streamlined workflow ensures treatments are recorded when details are fresh.

Withdrawal Period Calculator: Calculate withdrawal end dates based on treatment information and product requirements. Helps prevent food safety violations. Supports proper timing of product sales or consumption.

Storage Guidelines: Access product-specific storage requirements including temperature ranges, light exposure limits, reconstitution instructions, expiration date management.

When to Call a Vet: Decision tree guidance on situations warranting veterinary consultation. Includes clinical signs requiring professional evaluation, treatment failures requiring reassessment, unusual presentations.

Educational Content

The dashboard includes practical educational content reinforcing responsible antimicrobial use principles without being overwhelming or technical.

"Did You Know?" Sections

Always Complete the Full Course: Explains why finishing prescribed treatments matters, even when animals look better. Stopping early lets resistant bacteria survive.

Store Medicines Properly: Emphasises correct storage to maintain effectiveness. Poor storage wastes resources. May require stronger treatments later.

Get Professional Guidance: Encourages veterinary consultation for appropriate medication selection and correct dosing. Professionals prevent overuse. Improve outcomes.

Respect Withdrawal Periods: Stresses food safety importance of waiting required times before using animal products. Protects family and community from harmful residues.

These educational elements use accessible language appropriate for diverse user contexts. From commercial operations to conservation programmes to community animal health initiatives.

Alerts and Reminders

The dashboard displays important alerts based on recent antimicrobial use patterns:

Incomplete Treatment Warnings: Notifications when treatments may have been stopped before completing prescribed course. Reminders about resistance prevention.

Withdrawal Period Notifications: Alerts when withdrawal periods are approaching completion (products will soon be safe to use) or when violations may have occurred.

Usage Pattern Information: Notices when antimicrobial use increases significantly. Suggests review of underlying causes. Consideration of professional consultation.

Treatment Effectiveness Concerns: Alerts when multiple treatments fail or require modification. Indicates possible resistance issues or inappropriate medication selection.

Professional Consultation Reminders: Suggestions to seek veterinary guidance when treatments are being started without documented professional input.

Positive Reinforcement: Recognition when stewardship scores are high, completion rates are excellent, or other indicators demonstrate responsible practices. Positive feedback encourages continued good stewardship.

Alerts can be dismissed once reviewed. System prioritises most important or time-sensitive notifications to avoid alert fatigue.

Using Dashboard Data for Improvement

Regular Review

Review your stewardship dashboard monthly or quarterly. Track progress over time. Look for improving scores indicating better practices, completion rates approaching or exceeding targets, withdrawal compliance remaining perfect, consultation rates increasing or staying high, fewer alerts or warnings about concerning patterns.

Identify Patterns

Use dashboard data to identify patterns warranting investigation: Specific antimicrobials with low success rates (possible resistance). Certain conditions with frequent incomplete treatments. Particular animals or groups requiring repeated antimicrobial use. Seasonal patterns in antimicrobial usage. Cost trends that might influence medication selection.

Set Goals

Use current scores and indicators as baselines for improvement goals. Focus on one or two specific improvements at a time rather than trying to perfect all indicators simultaneously.

Share Success

When stewardship scores are high and practices demonstrate responsible use, share this achievement with buyers who value responsible production, certification programmes requiring stewardship demonstration, regulatory authorities during inspections, professional networks and peer groups, staff or family members who contribute to good practices.

Seek Support

If scores remain low despite improvement efforts, or if specific indicators prove difficult to improve, seek professional support. Veterinarians, animal health consultants, extension services, or industry organisations. Many regions have stewardship programmes providing technical assistance.

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