Implementation of strategies to prevent and control the emergence and spread of antimicrobial-resistant microorganisms in U.S. hospitals.

Objective: To examine the extent to which the strategies recommended by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID)-Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) co-sponsored workshop, Antimicrobial Resistance in Hospitals: Strategies to Improve Antimicrobial Use and Prevent Nosocomial Transmission of Antimicrobial-Resistant Microorganisms, have been implemented and the relationship between the degree of implementation and hospital culture, leadership, and organizational factors.

Design: Survey.

Setting: A representative sample of U.S. hospitals stratified by teaching status, bed size, and geographic region.

Participants: Infection control professionals.

Results: Surveyed hospitals had implemented strategies to optimize the use of antimicrobials and to detect, report, and prevent transmission of antimicrobial-resistant microorganisms. Multivariate analyses found that hospitals with a greater degree of implementation of the NFID-CDC strategic goals were more likely to have management support, education of staff, and interdisciplinary groups specifically to address these issues; they were also more likely to engage in benchmarking on broader quality of care indicators.

Conclusions: Most surveyed hospitals had implemented some measures to address the NFID-CDC recommendations; however, hospitals need to do much more to improve antimicrobial use and to increase their efforts to detect, report, and control the spread of antimicrobial resistance. A supportive hospital administration must foster a culture of ongoing support, education, and interdisciplinary work groups focused on this important issue to successfully accomplish these goals.