Combating antibiotic resistance: The role of nursing in antibiotic stewardship

Antibiotic resistance is one of the top infectious disease threats facing the world today. The escalating resistance to antibiotics has been named by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as one of the top 5 threats to health in the United States and has led to the development of the National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria. The plan, released by the White House in March 2015, calls for the establishment of antibiotic stewardship programs in all acute care hospitals by 2020. For antibiotic stewardship programs to achieve optimal success they must include nursing's perspectives and the active participation of nurses and the nursing profession. Although clearly any successful efforts to address this complex problem must be comprehensive, sustained, and involve all sectors of the health care community and public, the aim of this article is to convey the immediate need for nurses and the nursing profession to actively engage in initiatives, strategies, and solutions to combat antibiotic resistance, and to recommend what stakeholders within the nursing profession might contribute to antibiotic stewardship.