Combating Antibiotic Resistance: Policies to Promote Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs

Brief Summary
Antibiotic resistance is one of the world's most pressing public health problems. One tool to preserve antimicrobial resources is the implementation of antimicrobial stewardship programs, including tracking antibiotic prescribing patterns, to ensure judicious use. These programs improve individual patient outcomes, prevent death from resistant infections, slow antibiotic resistance, and reduce healthcare costs. State and territorial health agencies provide an avenue to develop and implement antimicrobial stewardship policies and programs. To gain an understanding of state stewardship efforts, ASTHO conducted a July 2013 survey of state HAI coordinators. The purpose of this survey was to identify 1) what activities and policies state health agencies are engaged in to promote antimicrobial stewardship; 2) what incentives and tools state health agencies need; and 3) promising practices to share with other states. Results in the areas of antimicrobial stewardship activities, antimicrobial stewardship policy, and antimicrobial resistance will be shared with participants. To increase capacity to implement stewardship programs, ASTHO and CDC worked with three states to conduct assessments of policy gaps and barriers in implementing antimicrobial stewardship programs, and to develop goals, strategies, and action steps to address these. State teams worked to assess stewardship in a variety of healthcare settings and the challenges that providers experience with regard to antibiotic prescribing. Specific projects investigated the effect of two approaches (driver diagram and recognition program) on adoption of antimicrobial stewardship programs in acute care settings, the appeal and perceived efficacy of the CDC’s Get Smart campaign materials in emergency department settings, and the policies, practices, and activities that impact stewardship efforts in long term care facilities. During this roundtable, state presenters will share results of these projects, and CDC will discuss core components of a stewardship program and CDC’s NHSN Antimicrobial Use and Resistance module. Participants will have the opportunity to discuss antibiotic use monitoring and stewardship efforts underway in their jurisdictions, share learnings, and consider ways to advance stewardship programs and policies.