Antibiotic Stewardship

The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) has released an updated AGS Beers Criteria for Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use in Older Adults. This article details the methodology and modifications.

This PDF provides a word search game focused on antibiotic resistance and stewardship.

This article focuses on poor practices of prescribing antibiotics, which puts patients at unnecessary risks for preventable allergic reactions, super-resistant infections and deadly diarrhea and can contribute to antibiotic resistance making them less likely to work in the future.

This patient-directed tool provides information on using antibiotics appropriately and their role in reducing antibiotic resistance.

Antibiotics are some of the most commonly prescribed drugs and save millions of lives each year. However, overuse and misuse have led to an alarming rise in antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Review this poster to learn about the dangers of overusing antibiotics and why sometimes they are not the answer.

This webpage provides educational information on the proper usage for antibiotics—when to use versus when not to. A video suitable for children to view and understand accompanies the information.

Antibiotic stewardship programs can help organizations promote the appropriate use of antimicrobials (including antibiotics) and improve patient outcomes. Attend this session to hear from Arjun Srinivasan, MD, the associate director for Healthcare Associated Infection Prevention Programs, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to learn strategies to implement and maintain an antibiotic stewardship program in your organization.

This document contains detailed explanations of policy and practice actions from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which can be taken by nursing homes as part of their antibiotic stewardship activities.

This document contains more detailed explanations of antibiotic use process and outcome measures, which can be tracked by nursing homes to monitor the impact of their antibiotic stewardship activities.

This article explains how the diagnosis is made, outlines the reasons for treating and summarizes the reasons for avoiding unnecessary treatment of asymptomatic bacteriuria.

This information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is aimed to help reduce the overuse of unnecessary antibiotics leading to the spread of superbugs.

The discovery of antibiotics was one of the greatest medical achievements of the twentieth century. However, overuse of these drugs has led to the development of resistance in bacteria. As a consequence, some infections can result in serious illness and even death. In this podcast, Dr. Tarayn Fairlie discusses the dangers of overusing antibiotics.

This article provides clinical practice guidelines for the management of asymptomatic bacteriuria by the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

This CDC website for long-term care providers provides information and resources on prevention of infections, offers information for clinical staff, infection control coordinators and residents on topices related to antibiotic stewardship, dialysis safety and hand hygiene, and access to infection tracking system for long-term care facilities.

This March 16, 2023, LTC Connect recording focuses on reducing hospitalizations due to facility-acquired infections and antibiotic stewardship. TMF Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organization specialists discussed how proper identification of urinary tract infections and having an antibiotic stewardship process can help to decrease unnecessary antibiotics as well as help to reduce emergency department visits and readmissions for your residents.

This presentation is from the March 16, 2023, LTC Connect webinar, "Reducing Hospitalizations Due to Facility-Acquired Infections, Part 1 – Antibiotic Stewardship."

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's (AHRQ) new Nursing Home Antimicrobial Stewardship Guide is a research-based resource that offers step-by-step instructions and materials to help nursing homes improve antibiotic use and decrease harms caused by inappropriate prescribing. The guide, which is consistent with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention core elements of antibiotic stewardship, can also help health care providers meet the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services new Infection Prevention and Control Program requirements.

This SBAR toolkit is designed to help train facility nursing staff in what to look for with a suspected urinary tract infection. The tool can be used to help prevent overuse and unnecessary antibiotics.

Watch this July 11, 2024, Nursing Home Connect webinar recording to learn the crucial role antibiotic stewardship plays in the prevention of multidrug-resistant organism (MDRO) infections, as well as provide tools for measuring your antibiotic program’s effectiveness.

This tool lists some of the high-touch areas in your facility that must be cleaned and disinfected frequently to ensure the health and safety of residents, visitors and staff.

This presentation is from the March 16, 2023, LTC Connect webinar, "Adverse Drug Events."

A nursing home-specific antibiogram may be an effective and inexpensive tool for improving appropriate antibiotic prescribing. This toolkit reflects the results of preliminary work with three nursing homes to develop the antibiogram, train staff and implement the program.

This toolkit, from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, provides tips and tools to help staff engage residents and families and provide needed education about how infections are treated in the facility.

This article helps to educate on when antibiotics may be needed to resolve a urinary tract infection and when they should be avoided.

Listen to this first recording from the TMF Quality Innovation Network’s Long-Term Care Antibiotic Stewardship podcast series to hear from Russell Kohl, MD, FAAFP, the chief medical officer at TMF Health Quality Institute, who discusses antibiotic stewardship and why nursing homes need it.

Antibiotics are some of the most commonly prescribed drugs and save millions of lives each year. However, overuse and misuse have led to an alarming rise in antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Review this poster to learn about the dangers of overusing antibiotics and why sometimes they are not the answer.