A toolkit that helps long-term care clinicians and administrators to tackle antibiotic stewardship has been released by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

The Toolkit To Improve Antibiotic Use in Long-Term Care breaks down stewardship best practices into three critical areas:

  • Developing and improving your antibiotic stewardship program. ​
  • Creating a culture of safety around antibiotic prescribing in your facility. ​
  • Learning and disseminating best practices for common infectious disease syndromes.

The authors encourage LTC organizations to apply a “four moments of antibiotic decision making” framework for all residents and patients receiving antibiotics.

Along with providing specific guidance for clinicians, the authors suggest the best learning paths for nursing home administrators and leadership, frontline staff, infection control preventionists and other antibiotic stewardship team members.

The toolkit can be found on the AHRQ website.