Developing a curriculum on antimicrobial stewardship for pediatric residents: a needs assessment

Identify essential components of a curriculum on antimicrobial stewardship (AS) for pediatric residents.

Survey.

Academic tertiary care children's hospital.

Pediatric residents and infectious diseases (ID)/AS content experts (CE), including pediatric ID faculty, fellows, nurse practitioners, and pharmacists.

Residents were surveyed to assess prior AS experiences and usefulness of education in different AS domains (e.g., antimicrobial resistance [AMR]). CE was surveyed to identify content to include in an AS curriculum. A specific topic (e.g., resistance in Staphylococcus aureus) achieved consensus if ≥80% of CE identified the topic as "very" or "extremely" important.

Thirty-three of 110 pediatric residents responded to the resident survey (response rate 30%). Spectrum of activity (97%), empiric therapy (94%), and duration of therapy (94%) were the domains identified by the most residents as "very" or "extremely" useful. All CE responded to the CE survey (n=26). Thirty-nine of 105 topics (37%) met the consensus threshold. The domains with most topics achieving consensus were empiric therapy (11/13 topics, 85%) and duration of therapy (5/8 topics, 63%). Only one topic was identified within the domains of antibiotic allergies, diagnostics, and AMR, reflecting 18%, 14%, and 6% of the potential topics within each domain, respectively.

A pediatric AS curriculum focused on empiric therapy and duration of therapy is likely to meet the needs of both learners and CEs.