Improving antibiotic use in long term care facilities by infection prevention and control and antibiotic stewardship

2026-07-22

Excessive and inappropriate use of antibiotics is the main driver of antimicrobial resistance, which is particularly problematic, especially in frail older people who are susceptible to frequent and severe infections. A lack of infection prevention and control (IPC) and inappropriate diagnosis leads to antimicrobial overprescribing in long-term care facilities (LTCF). In this setting, health care-associated infections, mainly urinary tract infections (UTI), some of which caused by resistant bacteria, are common but could be reduced through antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) and improved IPC measures, but the implementation hugely vary across countries. The aim of this project is to increase the prevention of infections – mainly UTIs –and reduce antibiotic inappropriateness for these infections by implementing a multifaceted intervention targeting health care professionals (HCP) in LTCFs including in particular nursing homes. The project applies the Audit Project Odense method of audit and feed-back before and after this intervention. We will include 10 LTCFs in each of the eight countries participating in the project, seven of which are low-income member states (LIMS) countries (Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain) and Denmark. For three months, the HCPs in each LTCF will register information about UTIs and other infections in the LCTF, as well as the IPC measures. HCPs will then receive a multifaceted intervention. The registration will be repeated after one year of the first registration. We aim to include the LCTF staff, both the personnel responsible for nursing, such as registered nurses, healthcare assistants and helpers and the doctors responsible for diagnostics and prescribing of antibiotics.

Spain

2025-10-15