Starting an Inpatient Antibiotic Stewardship Program
How to Utilize the Toolkit?
Key steps for starting an inpatient antibiotic stewardship program are listed below. Next to each step is the link to a section within the toolkit with more information and resources.
A goal for any antibiotic stewardship program is to meet all seven of the CDC core elements of an antibiotic stewardship program. The following steps should help you achieve that goal. The toolkit has a section for each core element.
Build the Case for Antibiotic Stewardship
Obtain Leadership Commitment Letter
Develop a Business Plan
Develop an ASP Policy
Determine the Type of Stewardship ACTIONS You Will Perform
- Prospective audit with feedback
- Prior approval (Preauthorization requirements, or ‘protected antibiotics’’’)
- Clinical practice guidelines
- Use of rapid diagnostics
- Introduce and describe your antibiotic stewardship plan
- Educate the entire hospital staff on antibiotic resistance and stewardship
- Process measures include days of therapy, length of therapy, and standardized antimicrobial administration ratio
- Outcome measures include length of stay, hospital-onset C. difficile rates, antibiotic resistance