Highlights
- •Many nurses are not familiar with antimicrobial stewardship (AS) or their role in AS.
- •Nurses are interested in more education about antimicrobial use and resistance.
- •Education efforts should focus on staff nurse awareness and AS interventions.
- •Nurse assessment of antimicrobial allergies should be explored.
Background
Registered nurses are uniquely qualified to augment antimicrobial stewardship (AS)
processes. However, the role of nursing in AS needs further development. More information
is needed regarding gaps in registered nurse knowledge, attitudes toward AS, and how
infection preventionists can help.
Methods
An online descriptive survey was deployed to a convenience sample of approximately
2,000 nurses at the bedside. The survey included 15 questions addressing: (1) overall
knowledge of AS; (2) antimicrobial delivery; (3) knowledge and attitudes regarding
antimicrobial use; (4) antimicrobial resistance; and (5) antimicrobial resources and
education.
Results
Three hundred sixteen staff nurses from 3 hospitals (15.8%) responded to the survey.
Fifty-two percent of nurses were not familiar with the term “antimicrobial stewardship,”
although 39.6% of nurses indicated that an AS program was moderately or extremely
important in their health care setting. Almost all nurses (95%) believed that they
should be involved in AS interventions.
Discussion
These findings suggest gaps in nursing knowledge rearding AS. However, nurses believed
AS programs were important and were eager to be involved.
Conclusions
This study showed that many nurses are not aware of AS, or do not understand their
role in contributing to AS endeavors. Infection preventionist education should focus
on increasing staff nurse awareness and demonstrating how nurses can make specific
AS interventions.
Key Words
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: May 23, 2019
Footnotes
Funding/support: This work was supported by internal funding from Brigham Young University College of Nursing.
Conflicts of interest: None to report.
Identification
Copyright
© 2019 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
