52% of nurses not familiar with term 'antimicrobial stewardship'

Anuja Vaidya -

More than half of registered nurses are not familiar with efforts to curb antibiotic overuse, according to a study published in the American Journal of Infection Control.

Researchers from Brigham Young University College of Nursing in Provo, Utah; LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City; and Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah, conducted an online survey that included questions assessing knowledge of antimicrobial stewardship.

The survey includes responses from 316 staff nurses at three hospitals.

Two findings:

• Fifty-two percent of nurses were not familiar with the term "antimicrobial stewardship"
• About 39 percent of nurses indicated that an antimicrobial stewardship program was moderately or extremely important in their healthcare setting

Researchers concluded that while there was a gap in antimicrobial stewardship knowledge among nurses, they believed those efforts were important and wanted to be involved.

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