Antibiotic Awareness

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) is joining Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in a national effort to combat the growing threat of antibiotic resistance by asking Colorado health care providers to Be Antibiotics Aware. It is estimated that nearly one-third of antibiotic courses prescribed in doctors’ offices and emergency rooms are unnecessary. Improving antibiotic prescribing is a national priority to combat antibiotic resistance.

During U.S. Antibiotic Awareness Week (USAAW), November 18-24, we are kicking off our Antibiotic Awareness Initiative by providing updated data and resources for appropriate use of antimicrobials.

CDPHE’s Antibiotic Awareness Week outreach goals are to mobilize health care stewardship teams and educate our community members to take action and optimize antibiotic use.

All providers can access CDC's Be Antibiotic Aware information and CDPHE’s local data and resources to improve antibiotic prescribing and use in all settings and help combat antibiotic resistance 52 weeks a year.

Check out our social media messaging during USAAW Nov.18-24

Core elements updates

CDPHE updated the data reporting engagement with the Core Elements of Antibiotic Stewardship in Colorado hospitals for 2022. Click the image below to find additional details, such as visualization of trends over time, core elements, and priorities for hospital core element implementation.

graph of priorities for hospital core element implementation

case banner with microbe images

We encourage hospital-based antimicrobial stewards to REGISTER for our Colorado Antimicrobial Stewardship Endeavor (CASE) workshops that begin in November and continue through July. CASE provides workshops, office hours, and one–on-one program consultations to support antimicrobial stewardship in the acute care setting. Since 2021, CASE has helped antimicrobial stewardship programs improve tracking, monitoring, and reporting protocols and provide resources such as treatment guidelines and dosing recommendations. Include CASE in your quality management program and REGISTER today!

Register for CASE

CDPHE tools and resources

CDC updated its Antibiotic Resistance and Patient Safety Portal to include Antimicrobial Stewardship trends nationwide and Colorado. This site includes interactive graphs and reports of inpatient and outpatient antibiotic use.

Long-term care facilities

Nurses and members of care teams in long-term care settings can use tools and resources to support antimicrobial stewardship.

CDPHE’s Antibiotic Tracking Tool for LTCF. Please utilize this tool within Google Sheets to track antibiotic usage and infection types among residents. If you need to work with an Excel file of the tool, please email us with your request.

Use the Antibiotic Time-Out Checklist to take a Time-Out to reassess appropriateness of an antibiotic within 48-72 hours after the antibiotic start date.

Suspected Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) Action Tool - Nursing staff can use this resource to guide in the initial evaluation of possible UTI in residents without a urinary catheter.

CDC Core Elements for Nursing Homes provides guidelines for improving Nursing Home Antibiotic Stewardship.

AHRQ Toolkit to improve Antibiotic Use in Long-Term Care provides guidelines for reviewing patient prescriptions together as a care team.

Resources

CDC's Be Antibiotics Aware Partner Toolkit includes key messages, newsletters, and social media content for sharing during USAAW, which can also be found below.