Creation of a Pediatric Antimicrobial Stewardship Lecture Series for Pharmacists at a Tertiary Care Children's Hospital

Background. Pharmacists are uniquely positioned to identify opportunities for the application of Antimicrobial Stewardship (AS) principles and play a central role in most AS programs. Pharmacist education was identified as an area of need during a local focus group assessment of current AS policies and resources in our setting. Here we describe the development and qualitative outcomes of a lecture series designed for pediatric pharmacists (PPs) highlighting AS principles and their application to the management of common pediatric infections.

Methods. Topics were selected in collaboration with the site pharmacy clinical practice leader based on common indications for antimicrobial prescription and areas with suboptimal guideline compliance. Evidence-based lectures were created by a pediatric infectious diseases physician using input from PPs about areas of common knowledge gaps or confusion. A lecture series, comprising 4 lectures, was delivered over 4 months. Topics included the following: (1) introduction to AS principles, (2) pneumonia, (3) urinary tract infections, and (4) a customized presentation based on AS related questions submitted by the PPs. Following the first two presentations attendees were polled to determine how likely each presentation was to change their practice (on a scale of 0-10) and to obtain feedback.

Results. Fifteen PPs who attended at least one of the two presentations were polled. For lecture 1 (n = 9) the mean score for likeliness to change practice was 6.6. PPs felt the presentation served as a good reminder of AS principles and affirmed what was already being done. For lecture 2 (n = 12) the mean score for likeliness to change practice was 7.9. The PPs preferred the disease-specific lecture to the lecture on AS principles. All respondents found the lectures to be beneficial and were interested in attending future lectures. The PPs requested copies of the presentations and references which they planned to use to strengthen recommendations made to physician prescribers.

Conclusion. An AS lecture series that was developed and customized to the educational needs of PPs was well received and noted to likely change practice. This type of educational intervention could serve as a prototype for other pediatric centers to develop similar educational initiatives.

Disclosures. All authors: No reported disclosures.

Author notes