Knowra Antimicrobial stewardship Antimicrobial stewardship Antimicrobial stewardship is the coordinated effort to use antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines appropriately, improving treatment while slowing the development and spread of drug resistance.
Antibiotic time-out : A scheduled review of an antibiotic prescription to reassess its need, choice, dose, and duration. It turns stewardship into a planned clinical check after initial treatment begins.
Antimicrobial : A substance that kills microorganisms or inhibits their growth. Stewardship applies to medicines acting against bacteria, viruses, fungi, or parasites.
Hospital antimicrobial stewardship : Stewardship activities conducted in hospitals to improve antimicrobial use among inpatients. Hospitals can review high-risk prescriptions and coordinate prescribing across specialties.
Infection prevention and control : Practices that prevent infections and limit their transmission in healthcare and community settings. Infection control reduces the need for antimicrobials, while stewardship improves their use.
Antimicrobial de-escalation : Narrowing or stopping antimicrobial treatment as diagnostic results and clinical progress clarify what is needed. It reduces unnecessarily broad treatment when evidence supports a more targeted plan.
Antimicrobial resistance : The ability of a microorganism to survive or grow despite exposure to a drug that would normally inhibit it. Preserving drug effectiveness requires reducing avoidable selection for resistance.
Outpatient antibiotic stewardship : Efforts to improve antibiotic prescribing in clinics and other nonhospital settings. Most antibiotic use occurs outside hospitals, where diagnostic uncertainty and expectations shape prescribing.
Antibiotic restriction : A policy limiting access to specified antibiotics, often through approval or prescribing rules. Restriction is one possible intervention, not the whole of stewardship.
Antimicrobial susceptibility testing : Laboratory testing that measures whether microorganisms are inhibited by particular antimicrobial drugs. Its results can guide a switch from empiric to organism-directed treatment.
Antibiotic : A medicine that kills bacteria or inhibits their growth. Antibiotics are the most familiar medicines addressed by stewardship programs.
Show all 21