Category: Antimicrobial Stewardship

Joint HQIC Antibiotic Stewardship: Quick Wins for Improving Duration of Therapy – November 8, 2022 LAN Event

Prepared by IPRO HQIC

Antibiotic Stewardship (AS) remains a national priority aimed at optimizing antibiotic use to effectively treat infections, protect patients from harms caused by unnecessary use and combat antibiotic resistance. This event features national antibiotic use and duration of therapy (DOT) trending data, strategies to address AS challenges, examples of best practice to improve antibiotic discharge prescribing, and a hospital’s success with engaging leaders, providers and front-line staff in a hospital-wide initiative to improve DOT and outcomes.

HQIC Antibiotic Stewardship Workgroup- Clostridioides difficile Module

Prepared by IPRO QIN/QIO

Video interview with a nurse describing her own C.  difficile survival story. The story includes a first-person accounting of her yearlong hospitalization, the impact of antibiotic therapy, prevention of C. difficile and the long-term effects of this devastating antibiotic adverse event.

HQIC Antibiotic Stewardship Workgroup: Penicillin Allergy Module

Developed by the Network of Quality Improvement and Innovation Contractors for the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services Quality Improvement and Innovation Group – QIN/QIO HQIC

This resource contains two video conversations on how to develop and maintain a successful penicillin allergy program, and how to initiate and sustain an antibiotic allergy clarification program. Additional resources include CDC fact sheet, allergy poster, and Evaluation and Diagnosis of Penicillin Allergy for Healthcare Professionals documentation.

HQIC Webinar, November 4, 2021: Antibiotic Stewardship During A COVID Pandemic

This material was prepared by the IPRO NQIIC, a Network of Quality Improvement and Innovation Contractor, under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

This resources includes a recording and presentation slides from a November Webinar on Antibiotic Stewardship During the Covid Pandemic.

Antibiotic Stewardship (AS) is a national priority aimed at optimizing the use of antibiotics to effectively treat infections, protect patients from harms caused by unnecessary antibiotic use, and combat antibiotic resistance. Hospital AS Programs and teams have been challenged during the COVID pandemic to manage both viral and bacterial infections in patients for extended lengths of stay.

National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN)Patient Safety Analysis Resource

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The NHSN application provides various options that allow NHSN users to analyze their surveillance data. The resources listed on the link above are intended to help you use the analysis tool, and interpret data analyzed from the Patient Safety Component of NHSN.

Implementing Antimicrobial Stewardship and C.difficile Prevention Toolkit

The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania
Quality Initiatives Department Health Care Associated
Infection Prevention Managers.

Antibiotics represent the greatest risk factor for the development of CDI. While appropriate for treatment of many infectious diseases, antibiotics are often overused and misused. Antibiotics disturb normal bowel flora and place the patient at risk of acquiring Clostridioides difficile colonization and/or infection. Antibiotic Stewardship Programs (ASP) have been shown to be an integral part of a CDI reduction program.

The purpose of this toolkit is help facilities incorporate evidence-based research into their practices and measure their effectiveness. Process and outcome measures will be collected and trended.

Strategies to Prevent Clostridioides difficile Infection in Acute Care Facilities

Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

Provides information on the basic principles and interventions recommended for the prevention of Clostridioides (formerly known as Clostridium) difficile infection (CDI) in acute care facilities. The strategies are intended to facilitate implementation of CDI prevention efforts by state and local health departments, quality improvement organizations, hospital associations, and healthcare facilities. Core strategies for the prevention of CDI in acute care facilities include:

1. Isolate & Initiate Contact Precautions

2. Confirm CDC in Patients

3. Perform Environmental Cleaning

4. Develop Infrastructure

5. Engage the Facility Antibiotic Stewardship Program

Assessment of the Appropriateness of Antimicrobial Use in US Hospitals

Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) & Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia

Importance Hospital antimicrobial consumption data are widely available; however, large-scale assessments of the quality of antimicrobial use in US hospitals are limited.

Objective  To evaluate the appropriateness of antimicrobial use for hospitalized patients treated for community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) or urinary tract infection (UTI) present at admission or for patients who had received fluoroquinolone or intravenous vancomycin treatment.

Conclusions and Relevance The findings suggest that standardized assessments of hospital antimicrobial prescribing quality can be used to estimate the appropriateness of antimicrobial use in large groups of hospitals. These assessments, performed over time, may inform evaluations of the effects of antimicrobial stewardship initiatives nationally.