8 Antimicrobial Stewardship Findings

Below are conclusions from eight recent studies on antimicrobial stewardship in the last month, listed in reverse chronological order.

1. Antibiotic treatment courses in long-term care facilities often exceed the time in which most common bacterial infections can be treated, which may contribute to antibiotic resistance, according to a study in JAMA Internal Medicine.


2. The development of new antibiotics to treat infections caused by drug-resistant bacteria is "alarmingly slow," according to a report by the Infectious Diseases Society of America published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

3. An Internet-based preapproval antimicrobial stewardship program can effectively reduce both the number of doses and the subsequent costs of restricted antimicrobials, according to a study in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.

4. Seventy-three healthcare professionals identified five reasons antimicrobials are misused in healthcare facilities in a study in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.

5. Antibiotic resistance among outpatients is a growing concern and warrants attention from both hospitals and outpatient clinics, according to a study in Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease.

6. Quality improvement strategies increased appropriate prescription of antibiotics in a children's hospital emergency department from 0 percent to 100 percent in six months, according to a study in Pediatrics.

7. There has been a dramatic increase in the frequency of drug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae nationwide, according to a study published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.

8. In 2010, U.S. healthcare providers prescribed 258 million courses of antibiotics, or 833 prescriptions for every 1,000 Americans, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

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