Antibiotic 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.

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.

Developed by the state of Wisconsin department of health services, this document provides multiple resources and their overview of key information necessary for implementing and maintaining a stewardship program.

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.

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 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.

Download this infographic to share with your patients and their family members to help educate them about when it is appropriate to take antibiotics.

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.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has released a new toolkit to help facilities implement an antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP) that specifically targets C. difficile.

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.