Early in the process of developing your ASP aimed at reducing C. difficile, you will need to think ahead about sustaining the program once it is in place. Often, sustaining changes in clinical practice introduced through a new initiative is more difficult than implementing them initially. To maintain your ASP C. difficile reduction so that it thrives and continues to be useful, consider at least four questions; you may have others.
In considering the questions, reflect on the challenges you currently face and consider strategies for working on them in the future. The tools and processes introduced in earlier sections can be used in developing your sustainability plan.
- Will our current ASP staffing work on an ongoing basis?
- What is the plan for ongoing measurement and feedback?
- What ongoing organizational support will be needed to keep the new ASP practices in place?
- How do we keep the ASP efforts relevant and a continued focus?
Resources and Tools Used by Participating Facilities
Ø 4A TOOL: How Do We Sustain ASP for Reducing C. difficile Over Time?
Ø 4B TOOL: UTI Guidelines Form
Ø 4C TOOL: Piperacillin/Tazobactam De-Escalation Form
Ø 4D TOOL: Medication Use Evaluation Template