Jefferson Center for Infection Prevention & Antibiotic Stewardship

• Infection prevention and control (IPC) refers to actions that help protect patients, healthcare workers and the public from getting an infection.
• Basic IPC practices include hand hygiene, standard and transmission based precautions, environmental cleaning and disinfection, injection safety, and vaccine advocacy.
• Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are a major problem for patients' and healthcare workers' safety.
• In the US one in every 25 patients hospitalized patients develops a HAI, making HAI prevention a top priority for healthcare systems and organizations.
• Use of IPC practices is central to preventing HAIs, controlling the spread of resistant infections, and reducing the need for antibiotics.

• Antibiotic resistance happens when bacteria develop the ability to defeat the antibiotics designed to kill them.
• Antibiotic resistant infections are a growing global public health threat poised to render antibiotics ineffective in treating even the most common infectious diseases.
• Worldwide antibiotic resistant infections directly kill 1.27 million people and play a role in almost 5 million more deaths.
• Overuse of antibiotics is one of the primary drivers in the development of antibiotic-resistant germs.
• Addressing this threat requires aggressive action to prevent infections in the first place, improve antibiotic use to slow the development of resistance, and stop the spread of resistance when it does develop.

• Antibiotic stewardship refers to efforts in hospitals, outpatient offices, long-term care facilities, and other health care settings to ensure that antibiotics are used only when necessary and appropriate.
• A primary action is prescribing the right drug - at the right dose - at the right time - for the right duration - and right route of administration. Proper antibiotic usage helps to slow the emergence of antibiotic resistance.
• Additional actions include infection prevention, antibiotic allergy assessments, antibiotic-time-outs, appropriate microbiology testing, educating the public about safe antibiotic use, and promoting vaccination.
• Initiatives dedicated to improving antibiotic use are commonly referred to as antibiotic stewardship programs (ASPs).

Our framework provides the context and clarity to help guide frontline nurses to participate in and lead antibiotic stewardship nursing practice.