A hidden gem in multidisciplinary antimicrobial stewardship: a systematic review on bedside nurses' activities in daily practice regarding antibiotic use.

Background: Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS), the set of actions to ensure antibiotics are used appropriately, is increasingly targeted at all those involved in the antimicrobial pathway, including nurses. Several healthcare organizations have issued position statements on how bedside nurses can be involved in AMS. However, it remains unclear how nurses, in reality, contribute to appropriate antibiotic use. Objectives: To systematically search the literature to describe the activities bedside nurses perform regarding antibiotic use in daily clinical practice, in relation to the activities proposed by the aforementioned position statements. Methods: We searched MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL and grey literature until March 2021. Studies were included if they described activities regarding antibiotic use performed by bedside nurses. Methodological rigour was assessed by applying the Mixed Method Appraisal Tool. Results: A total of 118 studies were included. The majority of the proposed nurses' activities were found in daily practice, categorized into assessment of clinical status, collection of specimens, management of antimicrobial medication, prompting review and educating patient and relatives. Nurses may take the lead in these clinical processes and are communicators in all aspects of the antimicrobial pathway. Patient advocacy appears to be a strong driver of bedside nurses' activities. Conclusions: Nurses' activities are already integrated in the day-to-day nursing practice and are grounded in the essence of nursing, being a patient advocate and showing nursing leadership in safeguarding the antimicrobial treatment process. An essential element of the nursing role is communication with other stakeholders in the patient-centred antimicrobial pathway. Educating, engaging and empowering nurses in this already integrated role, could lead to a solid, impactful nursing contribution to AMS.

Dutch guideline for preventing nosocomial transmission of highly-resistant micro-organisms (HRMO) in long-term care facilities (LTCFs).

In 2012, the Dutch Working Party for Infection Control (WIP) issued the first Guideline for prevention of transmission of highly-resistant micro-organisms (HRMO) in Hospitals. The next step was to focus on long-term care facilities (LTCFs) both for nursing homes as for small-scale living facilities with nursing home care. These facilities providing care for residents with functional disabilities, chronical illnesses and cognitive disorders, such as dementia. The objective was to adapt the Guideline for prevention of transmission of HRMO in hospitals to LTCFs with a strong accent on living conditions and social interactions. Residents of LTCFs may be carriers of HRMO over a long period of time and most of the residents of the LTCF stay for extended periods of time. To respect individual living circumstances and to prevent unnecessary limitations in the social life of the residents due to the use of isolation measures, the WIP has chosen to describe infection control precautions per individual micro-organism instead of a 'one size fits all' method. The term "isolation" was therefore replaced by the term "additional" precautions. This guideline describes the screening policies for residents in LTCFs, definition and detection of HRMO carriage, standard and additional infection control precautions for HRMO positive residents, documentation and communication of HRMO carriage and discontinuation of additional infection control precautions. It also describes contact tracing of HRMO, environmental control/investigation, surveillance of HRMO and what is important when there is an outbreak.

Reduced rate of intensive care unit acquired gram-negative bacilli after removal of sinks and introduction of 'water-free' patient care.

BACKGROUND: Sinks in patient rooms are associated with hospital-acquired infections. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of removal of sinks from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patient rooms and the introduction of 'water-free' patient care on gram-negative bacilli colonization rates. METHODS: We conducted a 2-year pre/post quasi-experimental study that compared monthly gram-negative bacilli colonization rates pre- and post-intervention using segmented regression analysis of interrupted time series data. Five ICUs of a tertiary care medical center were included. Participants were all patients of 18 years and older admitted to our ICUs for at least 48 h who also received selective digestive tract decontamination during the twelve month pre-intervention or the twelve month post-intervention period. The effect of sink removal and the introduction of 'water-free' patient care on colonization rates with gram-negative bacilli was evaluated. The main outcome of this study was the monthly colonization rate with gram-negative bacilli (GNB). Yeast colonization rates were used as a 'negative control'. In addition, colonization rates were calculated for first positive culture results from cultures taken ≥3, ≥5, ≥7, ≥10 and ≥14 days after ICU-admission, rate ratios (RR) were calculated and differences tested with chi-squared tests. RESULTS: In the pre-intervention period, 1496 patients (9153 admission days) and in the post-intervention period 1444 patients (9044 admission days) were included. Segmented regression analysis showed that the intervention was followed by a statistically significant immediate reduction in GNB colonization in absence of a pre or post intervention trend in GNB colonization. The overall GNB colonization rate dropped from 26.3 to 21.6 GNB/1000 ICU admission days (colonization rate ratio 0.82; 95%CI 0.67-0.99; P = 0.02). The reduction in GNB colonization rate became more pronounced in patients with a longer ICU-Length of Stay (LOS): from a 1.22-fold reduction (≥2 days), to a 1.6-fold (≥5 days; P = 0.002), 2.5-fold (for ≥10 days; P < 0.001) to a 3.6-fold (≥14 days; P < 0.001) reduction. CONCLUSIONS: Removal of sinks from patient rooms and introduction of a method of 'water-free' patient care is associated with a significant reduction of patient colonization with GNB, especially in patients with a longer ICU length of stay.

Decolonisation of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) carriage in adopted children with cleft lip and palate.

This study aimed to determine the percentage success and to investigate influencing factors of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) decolonisation treatment in children with cleft lip and/or palate (CLP) who are adopted to The Netherlands. This was a historic cohort study in nine Dutch hospitals with a CLP treatment centre of children who were adopted from abroad in 2005-2012 who had CLP and MRSA carriage upon arrival in The Netherlands. A total of 55 adopted children with CLP and MRSA carriage were eligible for the study. Most children were adopted from China and had cheilognathopalatoschisis. Fourteen children were not treated for MRSA carriage, of whom six became MRSA-negative spontaneously. Forty-one children received decolonisation treatment (either topical treatment and disinfectant body wash or these combined with oral antibiotics). Overall, eighteen children [44%; 95% confidence interval (CI) 29-59%] became MRSA-negative after treatment. Treatment success was higher (56%; 95% CI 33-77%) in the group of children treated according to the Dutch guideline for treatment of MRSA carriage (odds ratio=6.1, 95% CI 4.4-26.4; p=0.017). In conclusion, MRSA decolonisation treatment in adopted children with CLP was successful in 44% of cases and the success percentage was higher in the group of children treated in accordance with the national guideline for treatment of MRSA carriage. However, given the percentage of children who turned MRSA-negative without treatment, waiting for spontaneous clearance of MRSA carriage can be advised after careful consideration of the benefits and risks of decolonisation treatment.