CDC’s Antibiotic Stewardship Training Series Now Available

CDC’s Antibiotic Stewardship Training Series Now Available

CDC’s Antibiotic Stewardship Training Plan is set up so that modules can be taken in any order.  Each module can be taken outside of the training plan by going to TRAIN’s search page and entering the key words “CDC Training on Antibiotic Stewardship”.  Select the courses you would like to take and add them to Your Learning.

This interactive web-based activity contains four sections designed to help clinicians optimize antibiotic use to combat antibiotic resistance and improve healthcare quality and patient safety.

Section 1 is comprised of 3 modules. It includes information about antibiotic resistance and threats and a detailed explanation of the benefits of antibiotic stewardship. Additionally, section 1 discusses risks and benefits of antibiotics, with a focus on the microbiome, adverse drug events, and Clostridium difficile infections. Lastly, in section 1 clinicians will be empowered to optimize patient care by integrating antibiotic stewardship activities into outpatient care.  All of section 1 must be completed for continuing education.

Section 2 is comprised of 4 modules.  Module 4a will cover what we know about outpatient antibiotic use in the United States. Additionally, inappropriate antibiotic use will be discussed and the opportunities for improvement.  Module 4b will discuss the barriers to appropriate outpatient antibiotic prescribing to identify methods to help clinicians overcome those barriers. Module 5 will discuss the importance of antibiotic stewardship in outpatient settings, the Core Elements of Outpatient Antibiotic Stewardship, and evidenced based strategies to implement the Core Elements. Finally, Module 6 will provide training for clinicians about communicating with patients when antibiotics are not warranted. Each individual module has continuing education.

Section 3 is comprised of 4 modules. Module 7A will focus on antibiotic stewardship related to urinary tract infections and skin and soft tissue infections. Module 7B will focus on the epidemiology and etiology of acute uncomplicated bronchitis, viral upper respiratory tract infections (URI) and acute bacterial sinusitis. Module 7C will focus on acute otitis media as a common infection in young children, strict adherence to diagnostic criteria for acute otitis media, and treatment option for acute otitis media, including initial observation without antibiotics and immediate antibiotic treatment based on clinical characteristics and patient and caregiver preferences. Finally, module 7D will focus on antibiotic prescribing in dentistry. General dentists prescribe more than nine percent of all antibiotics prescribed in the outpatient setting.  Each individual module has continuing education.

Section 4 is comprised of 2 modules. Module 8 will focus on antibiotic stewardship in emergency departments (ED) and hospitals. Strategies for ED antibiotic stewardship implementation, the critical role EDs play in improving antibiotic use in both inpatient and outpatient settings, and antibiotic stewardship interventions in the ED will be covered Module 9 will focus on antibiotic stewardship in nursing homes. The module will cover antibiotics being frequently prescribed and inappropriately used in nursing homes and the potential adverse events and harm to nursing home residents. Each individual module has continuing education.

The Antibiotic Stewardship courses have Continuing Education available. Continuing education certificates are not issued within TRAIN.  To receive continuing education (CE) please visit TCEO and follow these 9 Simple Steps.

To receive a CDC certificate of completion in TRAIN, you must select None (no CE/audit).  More information can be found in each module’s course details.