Nurse prescriber’s understanding of their antimicrobial stewardship role: a qualitative study

Introduction Antimicrobial resistance is an infectious disease threat to public health globally, and antimicrobial stewardship among healthcare professionals one key way address this potential problem. Registered nurse designated prescribers are the newest group of gain prescribing authority in Aotearoa New Zealand, yet little known about their understanding role.Aim The aim study was explore registered prescribers’ role through practices approaches clinical reasoning.Methods This exploratory descriptive qualitative used individual semi-structured interviews with six prescribers. Thematic analysis analyse interviews.Results Four themes were identified: antibiotic resistance; indicators for antibiotics, sub-themes history taking, presence infection bacterial versus viral infection; patient education; safety monitoring. These provide insight into antibiotics.Discussion research found that had awareness importance relation reducing resistance. Education professional can be effective, but further needed understand ongoing educational needs.