scholarly journals Antibiotic stewardship for nurses: Using e-learning modules to bridge the education gap

Author(s):  
Mary T. Catanzaro

Abstract Objective: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has called for an interdisciplinary approach to antibiotic stewardship implementation that includes front-line nurses. The literature to date has identified key factors preventing uptake by nurses: lack of education, poor communication among providers, and unit culture. Three e-learning modules were developed to address the nurses’ education regarding the roles nurses play in antibiotic stewardship, antibiotic resistance, allergy assessment, medication side effects and interactions, pharmacokinetics–pharmacodynamics, culture interpretation, specimen collection, and the antibiogram. A survey was used to assess whether nurses felt more prepared to participate after finishing the modules. Setting: Front-line staff nurses in acute care were assigned e-learning modules as part of their pharmacy’s introduction of an antibiotic stewardship program for nurses. Methods: Nurses viewed the modules and completed a survey designed to rank their usefulness and to assess their attitudes. Results: Overall, 81% of nurses felt that they should be part of the antibiotic stewardship team. After completing the modules, 72% felt more empowered to participate in stewardship discussions and an additional 23% requested more education. Also, 97% felt that the information they learned could be utilized in everyday work regardless of the new program. The most cited barriers to stewardship activities were lack of education (45%) and hospital and/or unit culture (13%). Conclusion: Education and culture need to be addressed to overcome the barriers to nurses’ involvement in antimicrobial stewardship. E-learning can provide a simple and effective first step to educate nurses, with minimal time investment.

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. s118-s118
Author(s):  
Mary T. Catanzaro

Background: The CDC and The Joint Commission have called for an interdisciplinary approach to antibiotic stewardship implementation. The healthcare team should consist of infectious disease physicians, pharmacists, infectious disease pharmacists, infection preventionists, microbiologists, and nurses. The scant literature to date has looked at nurses’ attitudes and beliefs toward participating in antibiotic stewardship and have identified several factors that contribute to the lack of uptake by nurses: lack of education around stewardship, poor communication among healthcare providers, and hospital or unit culture, among others. Additionally, nurses’ lack of interest in what would be more work or not within their scope of work was put forth as an additional factor by infection preventionists and pharmacists as a barrier to implementation. Method: An investigator-developed online survey was used to assess the usefulness of 3 investigator-developed educational e-learning modules that encompassed the role of nurses in antibiotic stewardship, pharmacy and laboratory topics related to antimicrobial stewardship, as well as the nurses’ attitudes toward their participation in such activities. Results: Participants took the survey after review of the 3 e-learning modules. The results indicate that, contrary to what pharmacists and infection preventionists thought, 82% of nurses felt they should contribute to and be part of the antimicrobial stewardship team. Additionally, after completing the modules, 73% felt more empowered to participate in stewardship discussions with an additional 23% wanting more education. 100% felt that they learned information that they could utilize in their everyday work. Barriers to implementation of stewardship activities on their unit included lack of education (41%), hospital or unit culture (27%), with only 4% citing they did not feel it was their job or that they had anything to contribute to a discussion. Also, 24% felt that there were no obstacles to participation. Conclusions: Surprisingly, most nurses who took this educational series and survey felt that they should be part of the antibiotic stewardship team. As cited previously from the literature, education and culture need to be addressed to overcome the nurses’ barriers to stewardship involvement. E-learning can provide an easy first step to educating nurses when time permits and can provide a good springboard for discussion on the units and with physicians and pharmacists. For a copy of the modules, please contact the author.Funding: NoneDisclosures: None


2014 ◽  
Vol 32 (30_suppl) ◽  
pp. 215-215
Author(s):  
Lucille A. Leong ◽  
Mary Mendelsohn ◽  
Crystal J. Saavedra ◽  
Robert Morgan

215 Background: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a leading cause of morbidity/mortality in cancer pts. VTE is increasing and is the second cause of death in cancer pts, behind only cancer itself. In 2010 of the 186 unique hospitalized cancer pts at our institution with VTE, 25% were medical and 75% surgical. Gaps in clinician knowledge/practice of VTE prevention were evident. Methods: A interdisciplinary approach across clinical and administrative specialties was undertaken, with collaboration between: medical/surgical oncologists, MS leaders, pharmacists, nursing, and hospital departments of QI, information technology, and CME, to educate a target group of 120 cancer clinicians in VTE prophylaxis. In 2/2013 - 2/2014 multiplatform educational initiatives were utilized to reach physicians, advance practice/ward nurses and pharmacists: didactic lectures, Key Opinion Leader visiting professorships, online vignettes, VTE FAQ emails from MS QI leaders, small group sessions, e-learning modules. System changes such as standardized VTE prophylaxis order sets tailored for each service and strategically placed visual cues were also used. Results: Almost 3 times as many unique learners participated in these activities as were targeted. Learner satisfaction, knowledge acquisition and competency were high. Compliance with use of standardized order sets improved from 65 to 95% among the MS. Claims by clinicians of pt contraindications to prophylaxis were audited and found valid. Despite these improvements, incidence of VTE has not dropped, reflecting a national trend. Conclusions: With intensive and interdisciplinary effort, progressin clinician knowledge and performance in VTE prophylaxis can be made. This effort required considerable input from physician champions (eg., surgical oncologists with overlapping roles of clinician, QI advocate, and departmental leader, and medical oncologists with roles of clinician, CME and MS leader). This is a promising model for other QI initiatives. Supported by Unihealth educational grant.


2010 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Bai ◽  
Michael B. Smith

Educational technology is developing rapidly, making education more accessible, affordable, adaptable, and equitable. Students now have the option to choose a campus that can provide excellent blended learning curriculum with minimal geographical restraints. We proactively explore ways to maximize the power of educational technologies to increase enrollment, reduce failure rates, improve teaching efficiency, and cut costs without sacrificing high quality or placing extra burden on faculty. This mission is accomplished through open source learning content design and development. We developed scalable, shareable, and sustainable e-learning modules as book chapters that can be distributed through both computers and mobile devices. The resulting e-learning building blocks can automate the assessment processes, provide just-in-time feedback, and adjust the teaching material dynamically based upon each student’s strengths and weaknesses. Once built, these self-contained learning modules can be easily maintained, shared, and re-purposed, thus cutting costs in the long run. This will encourage faculty from different disciplines to share their best teaching practices online. The end result of the project is a sustainable knowledge base that can grow over time, benefit all the discipline, and promote learning.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hessa Saleh Alshehhi ◽  
Areeg Anwer Ali ◽  
Duaa Salem Jawhar ◽  
Essam Mahran Aly ◽  
Srinivas Swamy ◽  
...  

AbstractAntibiotic overuse is a major factor for causing antibiotic resistance globally. However, only few studies reported the implementation and evaluation of antimicrobial stewardship programs in Gulf Cooperation Council. This study was conducted within 8-months periods to evaluate the effect of the newly implemented antibiotic stewardship program on improving the prescribing practice of surgical antibiotic prophylaxis in a secondary care hospital in the United Arab Emirates by releasing local hospital guidelines. The data of 493 in patients were documented in the predesigned patient profile form and the prescribing practice of surgical antibiotic prophylaxis for clean and clean-contaminant surgical procedures was compared and analyzed two months’ prior (period A) and post (period B) the implementation of antibiotic stewardship program. The 347 patient’s data (PD) were analyzed during period A and 146 PD during period B. The prescription of piperacillin/tazobactam was decreased from 2.4% from all surgical prophylaxis antibiotic orders in period A to 0% in period B. The appropriateness of the antibiotic therapy was found to differ non significantly for the selection of prophylactic antibiotic (p = 0.552) and for the timing of first dose administration (p = 0.061) between A and B periods. The total compliance was decreased non significantly (P = 0.08) from 45.3 to 40.2%. Overall, the guidelines have improved the prescribing practice of antibiotics prior to surgery. However, further improvement can be achieved by initiating educational intervention via cyclic auditing strategy.


Author(s):  
Bongyoung Kim ◽  
◽  
Myung Jin Lee ◽  
Se Yoon Park ◽  
Song Mi Moon ◽  
...  

Abstract Background An effective antibiotic stewardship program relies on the measurement of appropriate antibiotic use, on which there is a lack of consensus. We aimed to develop a set of key quality indicators (QIs) for nationwide point surveillance in the Republic of Korea. Methods A systematic literature search of PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library (publications until 20th November 2019) was conducted. Potential key QIs were retrieved from the search and then evaluated by a multidisciplinary expert panel using a RAND-modified Delphi procedure comprising two online surveys and a face-to-face meeting. Results The 23 potential key QIs identified from 21 studies were submitted to 25 multidisciplinary expert panels, and 17 key QIs were retained, with a high level of agreement (13 QIs for inpatients, 7 for outpatients, and 3 for surgical prophylaxis). After adding up the importance score and applicability, six key QIs [6 QIs (Q 1–6) for inpatients and 3 (Q 1, 2, and 5) for outpatients] were selected. (1) Prescribe empirical antibiotic therapy according to guideline, (2) change empirical antibiotics to pathogen-directed therapy, (3) obtain culture samples from suspected infection sites, (4) obtain two blood cultures, (5) adapt antibiotic dosage to renal function, and (6) document antibiotic plan. In surgical prophylaxis, the QIs to prescribe antibiotics according to the guideline and initiate antibiotic therapy 1 h before incision were selected. Conclusions We identified key QIs to measure the appropriateness of antibiotic therapy to identify targets for improvement and to evaluate the effects of antibiotic stewardship intervention.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 158
Author(s):  
Abdul Halim ◽  
Elmi Mahzum ◽  
Muhammad Yacob ◽  
Irwandi Irwandi ◽  
Lilia Halim

Physics learning in universities utilized the Moodle-based e-learning media as an online learning platform. However, the effectiveness of remediating misconception using online media has not been widely researched. Therefore, this study was set to determine the level of misconception percentage reduction through the use of narrative feedback, the e-learning modules, and realistic video. The study was a quantitative approach with a quasi-experimental method involving 281 students who were taking basic physics courses in the Department of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology Education. The data collection used a three-tier diagnostic test based on e-learning at the beginning of the activity and after the treatment (posttest). The results of the data analysis with descriptive statistics show that the most significant treatment in reducing misconception percentage on the topic of free-fall motion was in the following order: narrative feedback, e-learning modules and realistic video. The misconception percentage reduction in the sub-concept of accelerated free- fall was effective for all types of the treatments.


Antibiotics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 456
Author(s):  
Kittiya Jantarathaneewat ◽  
Anucha Apisarnthanarak ◽  
Wasithep Limvorapitak ◽  
David J. Weber ◽  
Preecha Montakantikul

The antibiotic stewardship program (ASP) is a necessary part of febrile neutropenia (FN) treatment. Pharmacist-driven ASP is one of the meaningful approaches to improve the appropriateness of antibiotic usage. Our study aimed to determine role of the pharmacist in ASPs for FN patients. We prospectively studied at Thammasat University Hospital between August 2019 and April 2020. Our primary outcome was to compare the appropriate use of target antibiotics between the pharmacist-driven ASP group and the control group. The results showed 90 FN events in 66 patients. The choice of an appropriate antibiotic was significantly higher in the pharmacist-driven ASP group than the control group (88.9% vs. 51.1%, p < 0.001). Furthermore, there was greater appropriateness of the dosage regimen chosen as empirical therapy in the pharmacist-driven ASP group than in the control group (97.8% vs. 88.7%, p = 0.049) and proper duration of target antibiotics in documentation therapy (91.1% vs. 75.6%, p = 0.039). The multivariate analysis showed a pharmacist-driven ASP and infectious diseases consultation had a favorable impact on 30-day infectious diseases-related mortality in chemotherapy-induced FN patients (OR 0.058, 95%CI:0.005–0.655, p = 0.021). Our study demonstrated that pharmacist-driven ASPs could be a great opportunity to improve antibiotic appropriateness in FN patients.


2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. s199-s200
Author(s):  
Matthew Linam ◽  
Dorian Hoskins ◽  
Preeti Jaggi ◽  
Mark Gonzalez ◽  
Renee Watson ◽  
...  

Background: Discontinuation of contact precautions for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE) have failed to show an increase in associated transmission or infections in adult healthcare settings. Pediatric experience is limited. Objective: We evaluated the impact of discontinuing contact precautions for MRSA, VRE, and extended-spectrum β-lactamase–producing gram-negative bacilli (ESBLs) on device-associated healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). Methods: In October 2018, contact precautions were discontinued for children with MRSA, VRE, and ESBLs in a large, tertiary-care pediatric healthcare system comprising 2 hospitals and 620 beds. Coincident interventions that potentially reduced HAIs included blood culture diagnostic stewardship (June 2018), a hand hygiene education initiative (July 2018), a handshake antibiotic stewardship program (December 2018) and multidisciplinary infection prevention rounding in the intensive care units (November 2018). Compliance with hand hygiene and HAI prevention bundles were monitored. Device-associated HAIs were identified using standard definitions. Annotated run charts were used to track the impact of interventions on changes in device-associated HAIs over time. Results: Average hand hygiene compliance was 91%. Compliance with HAI prevention bundles was 81% for ventilator-associated pneumonias, 90% for catheter-associated urinary tract infections, and 97% for central-line–associated bloodstream infections. Overall, device-associated HAIs decreased from 6.04 per 10,000 patient days to 3.25 per 10,000 patient days after October 2018 (Fig. 1). Prior to October 2018, MRSA, VRE and ESBLs accounted for 10% of device-associated HAIs. This rate decreased to 5% after October 2018. The decrease in HAIs was likely related to interventions such as infection prevention rounds and handshake stewardship. Conclusions: Discontinuation of contact precautions for children with MRSA, VRE, and ESBLs were not associated with increased device-associated HAIs, and such discontinuation is likely safe in the setting of robust infection prevention and antibiotic stewardship programs.Funding: NoneDisclosures: None


2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. s272-s272
Author(s):  
Ronald Beaulieu ◽  
Milner Staub ◽  
Thomas Talbot ◽  
Matthew Greene ◽  
Gowri Satyanarayana ◽  
...  

Background: Handshake antibiotic stewardship is an effective but resource-intensive strategy for reducing antimicrobial utilization. At larger hospitals, widespread implementation of direct handshake rounds may be constrained by available resources. To optimize resource utilization and mirror handshake antimicrobial stewardship, we designed an indirect feedback model utilizing existing team pharmacy infrastructure. Methods: The antibiotic stewardship program (ASP) utilized the plan-do-study-act (PDSA) improvement methodology to implement an antibiotic stewardship intervention centered on antimicrobial utilization feedback and patient-level recommendations to optimize antimicrobial utilization. The intervention included team-based antimicrobial utilization dashboard development, biweekly antimicrobial utilization data feedback of total antimicrobial utilization and select drug-specific antimicrobial utilization, and twice weekly individualized review by ASP staff of all patients admitted to the 5 hospitalist teams on antimicrobials with recommendations (discontinuation, optimization, etc) relayed electronically to team-based pharmacists. Pharmacists were to communicate recommendations as an indirect surrogate for handshake antibiotic stewardship. As reviewer duties expanded to include a rotation of multiple reviewers, a standard operating procedure was created. A closed-loop communication model was developed to ensure pharmacist feedback receipt and to allow intervention acceptance tracking. During implementation optimization, a team pharmacist-champion was identified and addressed communication lapses. An outcome measure of days of therapy per 1,000 patient days present (DOT/1,000 PD) and balance measure of in-hospital mortality were chosen. Implementation began April 5, 2019, and data were collected through October 31, 2019. Preintervention comparison data spanned December 2017 to April 2019. Results: Overall, 1,119 cases were reviewed by the ASP, of whom 255 (22.8%) received feedback. In total, 236 of 362 recommendations (65.2%) were implemented (Fig. 1). Antimicrobial discontinuation was the most frequent (147 of 362, 40.6%), and most consistently implemented (111 of 147, 75.3%), recommendation. The DOT/1,000 PD before the intervention compared to the same metric after intervention remained unchanged (741.1 vs 725.4; P = .60) as did crude in-hospital mortality (1.8% vs 1.7%; P = .76). Several contributing factors were identified: communication lapses (eg, emails not received by 2 pharmacists), intervention timing (mismatch of recommendation and rounding window), and individual culture (some pharmacists with reduced buy-in selectively relayed recommendations). Conclusion: Although resource efficient, this model of indirect handshake did not significantly impact total antimicrobial utilization. Through serial PDSA cycles, implementation barriers were identified that can be addressed to improve the feedback process. Communication, expectation management, and interpersonal relationship development emerged as critical issues contributing to poor recommendation adherence. Future PDSA cycles will focus on streamlining processes to improve communication among stakeholders.Funding: NoneDisclosures: None


2021 ◽  
pp. 073346482110182
Author(s):  
Sainfer Aliyu ◽  
Jasmine L. Travers ◽  
S. Layla Heimlich ◽  
Joanne Ifill ◽  
Arlene Smaldone

Effects of antibiotic stewardship program (ASP) interventions to optimize antibiotic use for infections in nursing home (NH) residents remain unclear. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to assess ASPs in NHs and their effects on antibiotic use, multi-drug-resistant organisms, antibiotic prescribing practices, and resident mortality. Following the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis using five databases (1988–2020). Nineteen articles were included, 10 met the criteria for quantitative synthesis. Inappropriate antibiotic use decreased following ASP intervention in eight studies with a pooled decrease of 13.8% (95% confidence interval [CI]: [4.7, 23.0]; Cochran’s Q = 166,837.8, p < .001, I2 = 99.9%) across studies. Decrease in inappropriate antibiotic use was highest in studies that examined antibiotic use for urinary tract infection (UTI). Education and antibiotic stewardship algorithms for UTI were the most effective interventions. Evidence surrounding ASPs in NH is weak, with recommendations suited for UTIs.


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