New Guide Helps Nursing Homes Tackle Antimicrobial Stewardship

The HHS Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has a new Nursing Home Antimicrobial Stewardship Guide, a research-based resource with step-by-step instructions and materials to help nursing homes improve antibiotic use and decrease harm caused by inappropriate prescribing. The guide is consistent with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) core elements of antibiotic stewardship and can also help health care providers meet the new Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Infection Prevention and Control Program requirements. The customizable AHRQ stewardship guide includes four tool kits to:

• Implement, monitor, and sustain an antimicrobial stewardship program
• Determine whether it is necessary to treat a potential infection with antibiotics
• Help prescribing clinicians use an antibiogram to choose the right antibiotic to treat a particular infection
• Educate and engage residents and family members

Access additional AHRQ tools to prevent health care-associated infections.