Join the Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Challenge
Make a difference for your patients. Protect them from antibiotic resistance and join the fight to stop the spread.
When you prescribe antimicrobial drugs, do you consider antibiotic-resistant infections or health care-associated infections (HAIs)? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), you really should, as at least 2 million people contract an antibiotic-resistant infection and at least 23,000 people die due to these infections each year.
Launched September 2018 at the United Nations General Assembly, the Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Challenge was started to progress the fight against AMR around the world. The American Association of Nurse Practitioners® (AANP) is the premier organization for nurse practitioners (NPs) of all specialties, representing the interests of the more than 355,000 NPs currently licensed in the United States. Through its extensive communication channels, AANP is committed to raising awareness among NPs and patients of best practices for infection prevention and improved antibiotic prescribing and use.
Education From AANP
A number of continuing education (CE) activities addressing AMR are available completely free for members at the AANP CE Center, including:
- Antibiotics, Infection and the Evidence: Update 2018: Review up-to-date information and the evidence pertinent to the treatment of infection as you gain the skills necessary to effectively prescribe antibiotics in inpatient settings.
- Antibiogram, Clinical Practice Guidelines and Treatment of Urinary Tract Infection: Learn how the antibiogram tool can be used to guide decision-making for antibiotic choices and how to prescribe based on resistance patterns to mitigate antibiotic resistance.
- Bugs and Drugs in the Emergency Department: Examine the “bugs and drugs” commonly encountered in emergency rooms, plus learn to describe adverse drug reactions and appropriate empiric agents.
- Pharmacology 101: New Drug Update: Discuss medications recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and review safety concerns for new and existing medications.
- Infectious Diseases for the Acute Care Provider: Gain the knowledge necessary to identify appropriate antibiotic pharmacology for acute infections and summarize the value of escalation and de-escalation of pharmacologic therapy.
Webinars From AANP
Through the NP Support and Alignment Network (NP SAN), a partnership between AANP and the National Nurse-led Care Consortium (NNCC), educational webinars are presented on topics related to patient– and family-centered care, data-driven quality improvement and sustainable business operations. The on-demand webinars below are available now, and upcoming live webinars are presented with CE credit:
- Managing Medication Reconciliation: Discuss ways to incorporate medication reconciliation throughout a patient’s care plan and identify strategies for a medication reconciliation program in your practice.
- Medication Use and Hospital Readmissions: A Study on Elders: Gain an understanding of proper prescribing, dosing and scheduling—as well as compliance and adverse effects—to assist your elderly patients and avoid hospital readmissions.
- Improve Patient Safety in Primary Care Settings by Engaging Patients and Families: Part 1 and Part 2: Learn how to develop an accurate medication list and complete medication reconciliation, along with other actions to ensure patient safety and to engage patients and families in improving safety.
Resources From the CDC
The CDC tracks resistant pathogens and offers a number of resources for health care providers and the general public:
- Guidelines and Guidance Library: Find recommendations to help prevent and stop the spread of infection, as well as guidance on disease–, device–, setting– and procedure-associated infections.
- Training and Education: Learn the principles of infection control with CE activities, a webinar series, an interactive graphic novel and other tools for clinicians.
- Patient Safety: Review data on patients’ antibiotic safety, including resistance, HAIs, outpatient antibiotic usage and inpatient antibiotic stewardship.
- Core Elements of Antibiotic Stewardship: See the CDC’s key principles to guide efforts to improve antibiotic use, advance patient safety and improve outcomes.
- Fact Sheets: Educate your patients with these fact sheets, available for free download on a number of topics, including ways that antibiotic resistance spreads, infection prevention tips for health care providers and food safety.
- Social Media Graphics: Download graphics about AMR and HAIs to share with patients on your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media channels. Videos and medical illustrations are also available for you to share!
Experience the Winning Feeling of Vegas at the 2019 AANP Fall Conference
If you loved AANP’s previous fall conferences, you’ll love the 2019 AANP Fall Conference, held at Bally’s Las Vegas Hotel & Casino October 10–13, 2019. The new name introduces a new format, with dozens of advanced-level continuing education (CE) sessions in four topical areas: cardiometabolic, leadership, pharmacology and workshops.
Within each topical area, registered attendees can choose from a number of sessions on a variety of therapeutic areas—or select sessions from multiple topical areas to create your personalized conference experience! The leadership topic also allows attendees to register for 12 bundled sessions that make up the “AANP Introductory Certificate in Leadership,” which will be required to join AANP’s upcoming advanced NP leadership program.