Antibiotics stewardship
Antibiotics stewardship is a measure of the way antibiotics are prescribed by practitioners and taken by patients. Proper prescriptions are essential in treating infections. However, inappropriate prescription of antibiotics makes the bacteria resistant to the drugs. The development of drug resistance by the body limits the practitioners’ ability to treat patients effectively. Antibiotic stewardship ensures the continued efficacy of antibiotics (Sanchez et al., 2016). An essential role of a new NP in promoting antibiotic stewardship is to ensure that prescriptions are in line with the local, national, and international policies and guidelines. It is also an NPs role to ensure the prescription practice is evidence-based. Many NPs overprescribe drugs due to fears of facing complaints or litigation. Therefore, it is vital to adopt innovative strategies to make changes without the probability of encountering charges or reducing an annual bonus.
To change the over-prescription practice, practitioners must implement PDMPs. These programs detect suspicious patterns in antibiotics prescriptions. Other strategies to curb over-prescription include public reporting of antibiotics prescription rates, giving mandatory prescriber education, and educating parents and families on the dangers of over-prescription. The best way to inform parents and children is through counselling and physiotherapy. Through counselling, people can understand the health implications of a drug overdose, such as disease advancement due to drug resistance by the body. Parents and kids should also understand that physiotherapy can be more effective than drugs in disease treatment. CDC antibiotics policies include prescription strategies, selection, dosage, mode of administration, and timing to achieve effective prevention and cure of infections (Sanchez et al., 2016). With these guidelines, it is easy to change overdose practices by adhering to the policies’ standard guidelines. This will ensure the protection of NPs from legal and social complaints based on clinical prescriptions.