Antibiotic stewardship for nurses: Using e-learning modules to bridge the education gap

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has called for an interdisciplinary approach to antibiotic stewardship implementation that includes front-line nurses. The literature to date has identified key factors preventing uptake by nurses: lack of education, poor communication among providers, and unit culture. Three e-learning modules were developed to address the nurses' education regarding the roles nurses play in antibiotic stewardship, antibiotic resistance, allergy assessment, medication side effects and interactions, pharmacokinetics-pharmacodynamics, culture interpretation, specimen collection, and the antibiogram. A survey was used to assess whether nurses felt more prepared to participate after finishing the modules.

Front-line staff nurses in acute care were assigned e-learning modules as part of their pharmacy's introduction of an antibiotic stewardship program for nurses.

Nurses viewed the modules and completed a survey designed to rank their usefulness and to assess their attitudes.

Overall, 81% of nurses felt that they should be part of the antibiotic stewardship team. After completing the modules, 72% felt more empowered to participate in stewardship discussions and an additional 23% requested more education. Also, 97% felt that the information they learned could be utilized in everyday work regardless of the new program. The most cited barriers to stewardship activities were lack of education (45%) and hospital and/or unit culture (13%).

Education and culture need to be addressed to overcome the barriers to nurses' involvement in antimicrobial stewardship. E-learning can provide a simple and effective first step to educate nurses, with minimal time investment.