The UNMC College of Medicine offers a unique Enhanced Medical Education Track (EMET) program which provides an opportunity for medical students to delve into particular disciplines of interest in the field of medicine throughout their four year degree program. Track students attend seminars, preceptorships and complete a research project culminating in a poster or conference presentation. More information about the EMET program can be found here…. Continue Reading
It’s already the day after Thanksgiving, but believe it or not, it is still early in the flu season! The Douglas County Department of Health has been recording influenza cases since the beginning of the flu season, designated as October 1, 2017. To date, there have been 96 laboratory confirmed influenza cases in Douglas County. This is more than was reported for the same time-period in… Continue Reading
Sometimes in life there are moments of amazing coincidence, and this post is a very happy, unexpected, coincidence as we had not planned a post for today. We had, however, planned a THANK YOU post to all of the amazing readers and supporters who have helped make this blog a success after we passed 10, 000 views. It just so happens that this is the… Continue Reading
Antibiotic use is common in long-term care facilities (LTCF) with 70% residents receiving at least one course of systemic antibiotic every year. A significant proportion of the antibiotic use (40% to 75%) in nursing homes has been found to be unnecessary or inappropriate. Antibiotic exposure drives selection for multi-drug resistant organisms and C difficile infection. Antibiotic stewardship promotes appropriate antibiotic use and is important in… Continue Reading
Undergraduate medical education has long been a delicate balance between providing knowledge of basic sciences and providing experience on clinical rotations. Traditional education curricula have approached this as an even split over 4 years of medical education. The first two years of basic science education were typically classroom lectures of topics over several month semesters. However, there have been new trends in medical education to… Continue Reading
At Nebraska Medicine, we have been supporting Antimicrobial Stewardship activities for over a decade, and we are proud to Be Antibiotics Aware. The CDC has recognized our efforts by including the Nebraska Medicine Stewardship Program as an example for other institutions to model. We have recently partnered with the state of Nebraska to promote these activities at the state level through the Nebraska Antimicrobial Stewardship Assessment and… Continue Reading
As part of our Nurse Practitioner’s week feature, our third spotlight features Heather Chambers, Lisa Hill, and Jennifer Hrbek, who serve our Solid Organ Transplant ID patients. Heather Chambers A graduate of Pensacola Christian College (BSN) and the University of Nebraska Medical Center for her Masters and Doctor of Nursing Practice, Heather joined the nursing field because of her desire to help others. While… Continue Reading
Nebraska Medicine and Antimicrobial Stewardship in the Outpatient Setting Antimicrobial stewardship is not only about inpatient prescribing. Recent studies measuring antibiotic use in ambulatory settings have estimated that antibiotics are prescribed inappropriately 30-77% of visits(1). Despite being one of the leaders in implementing antimicrobial stewardship in hospitals, Nebraska ranks 44th (out of 50 states and District of Columbia) in outpatient antibiotic prescriptions dispensed. The practice of inappropriate antibiotic… Continue Reading
As part of our Nurse Practitioner’s week feature, our second spotlight features Ann Fitzgerald, Nikki Regan, and Christine Tran, who serve our Specialty Care Clinic patients. Nikki Regan (on left) A graduate from the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing – Lincoln for both her Bachelor and Masters of Science in Nursing, Nikki’s journey originally started towards biochemistry until she realized a… Continue Reading
In 2014, the CDC published The Core Elements of Hospital Antibiotic Stewardship Programs to assist acute care facilities implement antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP). While these efforts were relatively successful in hospitals with more than 50 beds, they were less successful in hospitals with 25 beds or less. In response to this disparity based on hospital size, the CDC published The Implementation of Antibiotic Stewardship Core… Continue Reading
