Antibiotic Stewardship

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance is among the greatest public health threats today. However, antibiotics are being prescribed when not indicated at astoundingly high rates. A gap exists between understanding when to prescribe antibiotics and writing prescriptions for antibiotics when not indicated by current guidelines. Therefore, antibiotic stewardship programs have been developed throughout the United States and worldwide to bring awareness to the threat of antibiotic resistance and to educate providers and patients on being good stewards of antibiotics. The purpose of this paper is to identify current evidence-based research supporting the need to combat antibiotic resistance, present a quality improvement project aimed at improving antibiotic stewardship, and discuss the project’s findings and implications for clinical practice.