Good nursing is good stewardship, and good antimicrobial stewardship is good nursing

30^th World Congress on Advanced Nursing Practice

September 04-06, 2017 | Edinburgh, Scotland

Rita Drummond Olans

MGH Institute of Health Professions, Boston, USA

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Adv Practice Nurs

Abstract :

Resistance to antibiotics has increased dramatically across the world, with serious associated medical, social, and economic consequences. The most promising approach to this international crisis is a new understanding of the need for the careful and responsible use of antibiotics, both for the benefit of society as well as for the optimal care of individual patients. This multidisciplinary approach, called antimicrobial stewardship (AS), has typically involved infectious diseases specialists, pharmacists, microbiologists, and infection preventionists. Nurses also perform numerous antibiotic-related activities without recognizing that they are integral to the function of antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs). This presentation elucidates all the ways nursing is already contributing to antimicrobial stewardship, and identifies areas for future research, scholarship, and learning.