Antibiotic Resistance and Stewardship
for Health Professionals

Antibiotic stewardship is a national and state health care priority. In 2015, the US government released the National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria and in 2016, Minnesota released its One Health Minnesota Antibiotic Stewardship Strategic Plan. Stewardship interventions have been proven to improve individual patient outcomes, reduce the burden of antibiotic resistance, and save health care dollars. We have compiled a library of resources for health care facilities and clinicians to promote the effective implementation of antibiotic stewardship in human health care.

On this page:
Health care facilities
Clinicians
Learn more about antibiotic stewardship

For health care facilities

• CDC: Educational Resources for Healthcare Professionals | Antibiotic Use
  CDC materials you can download and print, including viral prescription pads, fact sheets, patient brochures, delayed prescribing pads, and posters.
• Minnesota Antibiotic Stewardship Commitment Materials
  Show your commitment to antibiotic stewardship! We have created templates that you can download and use.
• Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs (ASP)
  About creating a ASP in your facility, including guidelines for acute care and toolkits for long term care and outpatient clinics.
  For Long-term Care Facilities | For Acute Care | For Outpatient Clinics
• Prescribing Antibiotics in Outpatient Settings during the COVID-19 Pandemic (PDF)
  Information and considerations for providers related to COVID-19.

For clinicians

• Antimicrobial Susceptibilities of Selected Pathogens (Antibiogram)
  The Antimicrobial Susceptibilities of Selected Pathogens, also known as the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) antibiogram, includes a compilation of antimicrobial susceptibilities of selected pathogens that have been submitted to the MDH Public Health Laboratory.
• Minimum Criteria for Initiation of Antibiotics in Long-Term Care Residents
  Pocket reference card that includes information about treating patients with suspected UTI, skin and soft tissue infection, suspected respiratory infection, or fever with unknown focus of infection.

Syndrome-specific guidelines

• CDC: Outpatient Clinical Care for Adults
  Outpatient adult treatment recommendations for sinusitis, bronchitis, upper respiratory tract infection, pharyngitis, and cystitis.
• CDC: Outpatient Clinical Care for Pediatric Populations
  Outpatient pediatric treatment recommendations for sinusitis, acute otitis media, pharyngitis, upper respiratory tract infection, bronchiolitis, and urinary tract infections.
• New York Department of Health: Adult Antibiotic Prescribing Guidelines/ Pediatric Antibiotic Prescribing Guidelines (PDF)
  Outpatient adult treatment recommendations for sinusitis, bronchitis, pharyngitis, and cystitis. Outpatient pediatric treatment recommendations for sinusitis, acute otitis media, pharyngitis, upper respiratory tract infection, bronchiolitis, and urinary tract infections.

Specific examples of stewardship data tools

• CID: Use of Electronic Health Records and Clinical Decision Support Systems for Antimicrobial Stewardship
• PLOS: Impact of a Prospective Audit and Feedback Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center
• AHRQ: Toolkit for Reduction of Clostridium difficile Infections through Antimicrobial Stewardship
• ACP: Antibiotic Self-stewardship: Trainee-Led Structured Antibiotic Time-outs to Improve Antimicrobial Use

News of rapid diagnostic testing

• CID: IDSA/SHEA: Review of Rapid Diagnostic Tests Used by Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs
• CID: IDSA/SHEA: Emerging Technologies for Rapid Identification of Bloodstream Pathogens

The way we use antibiotics today
or in one patient
directly impacts how effective they will be tomorrow
or in another patient;
antibiotics are a shared resource.
Preserving effective antibiotic treatments requires all of us to do our part.