Optimising the nursing contribution to improving antimicrobial stewardship in hospitals: development of a multi-component intervention

Ref: SHLS20033 Ness

‘Antimicrobial resistance’ (AMR) means that many antibiotics may not work in future, putting hospital patients at increased risk of serious infections. Unnecessary use of antibiotics increases AMR. ‘Antimicrobial stewardship’ describes the best ways for healthcare staff to use antibiotics appropriately, reducing the risk of AMR. Stewardship programmes in hospitals provide guidelines for doctors to follow for antibiotic treatments, however, patients are often seen by several different doctors making good stewardship difficult. Nurses can have an important role in different aspects of stewardship, e.g. recognising and testing for infection, managing patient’s antibiotic medicines, educating patients about antibiotic use, prompting doctors to follow stewardship guidelines. However, previous research shows that few nurses are currently involved in stewardship. This study aims to develop an intervention to guide nurse’s involvement in these varied aspects of stewardship, thereby improving antibiotic treatment for individual patients and contributing to reducing the world-wide problem of AMR. The primary research question to be addressed is ‘What are the appropriate components of a care bundle intervention to promote the nurse’s role in antimicrobial stewardship?’

Candidates are requested to submit an outline research proposal (see Guidance on writing a research proposal) related to the project (maximum 2,000 words).

This project is part of a programme of work being delivered by the SHIP research group (Safeguarding Health through Infection Prevention) https://www.gcu.ac.uk/hls/research/researchgroups/infectionprevention/