CDC’s Safe Healthcare Blog: Protect Nursing Home Residents by Improving Antibiotic Stewardship in Nursing Homes

Protect Nursing Home Residents by Improving Antibiotic Stewardship in Nursing Homes

Today on CDC’s Safe Healthcare Blog Nimalie Stone, MD, medical epidemiologist in CDC’s Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, discusses CDC’s new resource, the Core Elements of Antibiotic Stewardship for Nursing Homes, to support nursing home efforts to improve antibiotic use.

CDC recommends all nursing homes implement core elements to improve antibiotic use. Improving the use of antibiotics in healthcare is critical to protect patients and reduce the threat of antibiotic resistance. In nursing homes, antibiotics are frequently prescribed medications; as many as 70% of residents receive antibiotics over the course of a year. However, a large number (up to 75%) of antibiotics prescribed in nursing homes are given incorrectly (e.g., the wrong drug, dose, duration, or given for the wrong reason). This antibiotic misuse can harm residents by putting them at unnecessary risk for allergic reactions, drug-drug interactions, highly resistant infections and Clostridium difficile.

Learn more about the Core Elements of Antibiotic Stewardship for Nursing Homes at http://www.cdc.gov/longtermcare/prevention/antibiotic-stewardship.html.

Join the conversation on appropriate antibiotic prescribing in long-term care at http://blogs.cdc.gov/safehealthcare/category/ltc/.