Antibiotic Stewardship Toolkits

These toolkits were developed based on the experiences of frontline clinical teams in hospitals, long-term care facilities, and ambulatory practices that successfully applied the Four Moments of Antibiotic Decision Making to improve antibiotic use.

Setting-specific materials focus on improving antibiotic stewardship programs, engaging frontline staff in improving prescribing behavior, and diagnosing and treating common infectious syndromes.

The resources were developed by clinicians for clinicians and are based on the experiences of teams who participated in the AHRQ Safety Program for Improving Antibiotic Use. Learn more about the project below.

Toolkits To Improve Antibiotic Use

Select your clinical setting below:

Acute Care Hospital Toolkit

Access the Toolkit To Improve Antibiotic Use in Acute Care Hospitals. The toolkit includes information for the acute care setting on building and maintaining an antibiotic stewardship program, improving the safety culture around antibiotic prescribing, and diagnosing and treating common infectious disease syndromes.

Long-Term Care Toolkit

Access the Toolkit to Improve Antibiotic Use in Long-Term Care. The toolkit includes information for the long-term care setting on building and maintaining an antibiotic stewardship program; improving the safety culture around antibiotic prescribing; improving communication between health care practitioners, residents, and their caregivers; and diagnosing, treating, and managing common infectious disease syndromes.

Ambulatory Care Toolkit

Access the Toolkit To Improve Antibiotic Use in Ambulatory Care. The toolkit includes information for the ambulatory care setting on developing and improving antibiotic stewardship activities in your practice, learning strategies for communicating about antibiotic prescribing, and learning best practices for diagnosing and managing common infectious syndromes and antibiotic allergies.

About This Project

Antibiotics are life-saving drugs when used appropriately. Using antibiotics inappropriately can lead to antibiotic-resistant bacteria and increase the risk of Clostridioides difficile (C. diff), a dangerous gut infection that is becoming more prevalent in health care. The AHRQ Safety Program for Improving Antibiotic Use helped clinicians in hospitals, doctors offices, and long-term care apply the Four Moments of Antibiotic Decision Making and concepts derived from the Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) to improve antibiotic stewardship by selecting the optimal antibiotic regimens, routes of administration, and durations.

Tools, resources, and lessons learned by the facilities that participated in this 5-year project were compiled into the three toolkits above, allowing other facilities to improve antibiotic stewardship.

Project Partners

This project was conducted through a partnership that brought together subject matter experts and providers in the field.

Partners for this project included—

• Johns Hopkins Medicine.
• NORC at the University of Chicago.

Project Report—Overall Summary

• Final Report: AHRQ Safety Program for Improving Antibiotic Use (PDF, 1.3 MB)