Educational Resources | Carolina Antimicrobial Stewardship Program

Is Cephalexin or Cefdinir Optimal for Your Patient’s Urinary Tract Infection?

Oral beta–lactams are used for a variety of urinary tract infections (UTIs). Here are the facts to help you choose the best option for your patient.

Medical Grand Rounds: Antimicrobial Stewardship at UNC Medical Center

CASP Medical Director Nick Mavrogiorgos, MD’s recorded October 2022 lecture is available for streaming. Dr. Mavrogiorgos highlights best practices for antimicrobial stewardship in place at the Medical Center.

Appropriate Culturing in the Operating Room

During surgery, there is a unique opportunity to obtain samples directly from the site of infection. If cultures are not sent, it can negatively affect patient care, as patients may receive wrong treatment or unnecessarily broad empiric antimicrobial therapy, which can lead to side effects, complications such as C.difficile colitis or development of antimicrobial resistance.

Here are some tips about obtaining cultures in the operating room. Watch now.

“Reasons to Get a COVID-19 Vaccine” Flyer Available to Post in Patient Areas

To support patients and visitors who may be considering COVID vaccination, Carolina Antimicrobial Stewardship Program created a flyer called Reasons to Get a COVID-19 Vaccine (Spanish & English available) to provide more information on the benefits of a COVID vaccine. Consider printing and posting the flyers in patient and visitor areas.

Penicillin Allergy Assessment Tool Kit

An estimated 10% of the US population reports having an allergic reaction to a penicillin-class antibiotic. However, when evaluated, fewer than 1% are truly allergic. Broad-spectrum antibiotics are a common alternative to penicillins and are associated with more side effects, higher healthcare costs, and antimicrobial resistance.

The tool kit has been created to educate patients and their caregivers and to train healthcare providers on how to proactively assess penicillin allergies. Removing the allergy from medical records of patients who are not truly allergic to penicillins is an important stewardship tool that decreases unnecessary use of broad-spectrum antibiotics.

View the tool kit resources.

Information for Patients & Caregivers

Antimicrobial Stewardship: A Patient’s Guide (2021) is a resource for patients and caregivers describing the important role of stewardship in patient care
Patient and Healthcare Provider Information on antibiotic prescribing for use in doctors’ offices, includes selected resources in Spanish, French, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Portuguese, and English
For Parents of Young Children includes information on appropriate antibiotic prescribing for common childhood illnesses
WHO Global Antimicrobial Resistance Fact Sheet (2018) also includes links to the global action plan (2015) and other resources
CDC’s U.S. Antimicrobial Resistance Prevention Fact Sheet (2019)

Reports

The National Quality Forum‘s Antimicrobial Stewardship Playbook (2016) provides real-world ideas for application of the CDC’s Core Elements (see below)
Tools and resources for implementing antimicrobial stewardship from the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA)
Resources on antimicrobial stewardship and resistance from the Infectious Diseases Society of America

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research are two of several agencies of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services charged with leading national efforts on antimicrobial use and resistance. Their websites provide a wealth of resources and information, including:

COVID-19: US Impact on Antimicrobial Resistance – A June 2022 report on the COVID-19 pandemic’s negative effect on antibiotic resistance
Core Elements for Hospital Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs (2019) define structural and procedural components that are associated with successful stewardship programs. The site also includes resources tailored for small & critical access facilities , outpatient settings, nursing homes, and resource-limited facilities
Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States, 2019 includes the latest national death and infection estimates that underscore the continued threat of antibiotic resistance in the U.S.
CDC’s Antibiotic Stewardship Training Series (free with account creation; C.E. available) is a nine-module, interactive, web-based training designed to help clinicians optimize antibiotic use to combat antibiotic resistance and improve healthcare quality and patient safety.
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s Safety Program for Improving Antibiotic Use aims to support clinicians apply the Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) method to improve antibiotic stewardship by selecting the optimal antibiotic regimens, routes of administration, and durations
The AHRQ developed an Antibiotic Stewardship Toolkit for acute care hospitals (2019), with additional toolkits in development for long-term care and ambulatory care practices (expected in 2021).

Infectious Diseases Fellowships

Learn more about fellowships for physicians and pharmacists through the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, in partnership with the UNC Medical Center.

Global & National Campaigns

World Antimicrobial Awareness Week takes place each November. Resources include a customizable materials to amplify campaign messages globally.
The CDC is the U.S. lead agency for World Antimicrobial Awareness Week and provides a partner tool kit to make participation easier and coordinated across the U.S.

Data

Antibiotic Resistance & Patient Safety Portal (formerly the Patient Safety Portal) allows users to explore and visual data on antibiotic resistance and healthcare-associated infections
CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) publishes reports from its data on topics such as antimicrobial use and resistance, including antimicrobial-resistance pathogens associated with healthcare-associated infections