Vol.67 No.6 November 2019
The role and limitation of infection-control nurses in the antimicrobial stewardship
Department of Infection Control and Prevention, Kitasato University East Hospital, 2-1-1 Asamizodai, Minami-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan
Abstract
A decrease in the population of the young or an increase in the numbers of the elderly results in a shortage of the working generation which is a serious issue for society as a whole, but particularly for those institutions providing medical services such as hospitals, clinics and healthcare facilities. The situation whereby frail elderly patients have to be transferred from hospitals to healthcare facilities and/or to daycare at home presents particularly serious problems for infection control programs, since drug-resistant infectious agents may be transmitted back-and-forth among the affected medical and healthcare facilities. Consequently, it places a greater burden on the clinical practitioners in terms of staff numbers and time. To reduce the strain on the medical practitioners, a revised version of relevant laws has been passed into legislation that has enabled appropriately qualified nurses to provide limited medical treatments under the direction of medical doctors. The qualified nurses, designated as "Nurse Practitioners", have to undergo and successfully complete re-education programs, whereafter they are allowed to undertake further advanced education to be qualified as "Nurses Specializing in Specific Medical Tasks". This short review describes and discusses the background of the re-education programs for "Nurse Practitioners" and "Nurses Specializing in Specific Medical Tasks" exemplifying Antimicrobial Stewardship, the keystone component underpinning infection control programs.
Key word
antimicrobial stewardship team, nurse practitioner, community-based integrated care systems
Received
October 16, 2018
Accepted
August 2, 2019
Jpn. J. Chemother. 67 (6): 633-639, 2019
