A Multidisciplinary Approach to Incorporate Bedside Nurses into Antimicrobial Stewardship and Infection Prevention

Antimicrobial stewardship programs exist to promote appropriate antimicrobial use. The Joint Commission has reported that although many US hospitals have implemented basic components of antimicrobial stewardship programs, there now exists a need for innovative, multidisciplinary approaches, including involving frontline clinicians such as bedside nurses.

A retrospective evaluation of bedside nurse-driven antimicrobial stewardship and infection prevention rounds was conducted on a 31-bed telemetry unit of a community regional medical center. Rounds were managed by a nurse coordinator and attended by an infectious diseases pharmacist, an infection preventionist, and a nurse practitioner. Primary outcome measures were antimicrobial and acid suppressant medication and invasive catheter use.

In the 12-month intervention period the nurse-driven rounds team reviewed of a total of 472 antimicrobial medication, 480 acid suppressant medication, 321 urinary catheter, and 61 central venous catheter therapies over 867 total patient encounters. Compared with the 12-month preintervention period, significant reductions in unit antimicrobial use (791.2 vs. 697.1 days of therapy per 1,000 patient-days; p = 0.03), acid suppressant medication use (708.1 vs. 372.4 days of therapy per 1,000 patient-days; p = 0.0001), and urinary catheter use (0.3 vs. 0.2 catheter-days per patient-day; p = 0.002) were observed.

This study demonstrates successful engagement of bedside nurses in antimicrobial stewardship and infection prevention activities and a measurable impact on meaningful outcomes. More studies of strategies to integrate bedside nurses in antimicrobial stewardship are needed.