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. The prevalence of multi-drug resistant organisms and C. difficile infections are already a significant problem for the post-acute and long-term care facilities. As these facilities are now providing care to more medically complex individuals with increasing numbers of post-acute care (Medicare) admissions, these problems may continue to amplify unless new interventions are introduced to promote appropriate antibiotic use in this setting. Antibiotic stewardship programs have demonstrated effectiveness in reducing inappropriate antibiotic use in long-term care facilities. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) revised the condition of participation for LTCF in October 2016 and mandated LTCF to develop antibiotic stewardship program as a part of their infection prevention and control program.
Dr. Ashraf and other national speakers spoke on the topic of antimicrobial stewardship in long-term care facilities at 2017 Illinois Summit on Antimicrobial Stewardship. They discussed the strategies for implementation of such a program and introduced the participants to the free resources, which they can use to develop a program at their facilities.
If you would like to learn more about the talk and the available resources, the slides of the presentation are available at the following link:
Content courtesy of Dr. Ashraf.