Participatory eHealth development to support nurses in antimicrobial stewardship

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Informatics
• Patient Safety
• Nursing Practice

Background:

• Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global patient safety concern.
• Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs (ASPs) are crucial for optimizing antimicrobial use.
• Nurses play a vital role in implementing and monitoring antimicrobial treatments within ASPs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how an eHealth intervention can support nurses in their roles within ASPs.
• To identify and address the specific information needs of nurses related to antimicrobial therapy.
• To enhance the effectiveness of nurses in managing antimicrobial treatments and improving patient safety.

Main Methods:

• A participatory development approach involving iterative cycles with healthcare workers, primarily nurses.
• Utilized focus groups, observations, prototype evaluations (card sort, scenario-based tasks), and interviews with stakeholders.
• Study conducted on two pulmonary wards in a large teaching hospital.

Main Results:

• Nurses require support for complex antimicrobial-related tasks, often consulting multiple, unsupportive information sources.
• Current information infrastructure is inadequate: information is unstructured, difficult to find, outdated, and lacks awareness support.
• A concept for a nurse information application was developed, tailored to nurse work practices and tasks.

Conclusions:

• Task support is a fundamental need for nurses in ASPs.
• Participatory development effectively integrated nurse needs with medical protocols, analyzed tasks, and translated information into a task-oriented format.
• The developed application aims to enhance nurse awareness and patient safety, fostering stakeholder commitment and ownership.