AHRQ Safety Program for Improving Antibiotic Use
About This Project
Antibiotics are life-saving drugs when used appropriately. Using antibiotics inappropriately can lead to antibiotic-resistant bacteria and increase the risk of Clostridioides difficile (C.diff), a dangerous gut infection that is becoming more prevalent in health care. In 2011, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that C.diff caused almost half a million infections and 29,000 deaths within 30 days of initial diagnosis. This project aims to help clinicians in hospitals, doctors offices, and long-term care apply the Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) method to improve antibiotic stewardship by selecting the optimal antibiotic regimens, routes of administration, and durations.
Tools, resources, and lessons learned by the facilities that are participating in this 5-year project will be compiled into a toolkit, allowing other facilities to improve antibiotic stewardship.
Project Partners
This project is being conducted through a partnership that brings together subject matter experts and providers in the field. Partners for this project include—
- Johns Hopkins Medicine Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality.
- NORC at the University of Chicago.
For more information about the project, visit https://safetyprogram4antibioticstewardship.org/.
