The Public Health Foundation (PHF) has developed a Public Health Antibiotic Stewardship Driver Diagram and subsequent Antibiotic Stewardship Program to help promote optimal use of antibiotics. This effort grew out of a partnership between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) that aimed to improve use of antibiotics and develop a conceptual model of key drivers for reducing inappropriate antibiotic utilization in hospitals. Efforts to promote optimal antibiotic use should employ both the public health and healthcare systems. Health departments that have used the driver diagram and quality improvement techniques to promote optimal antibiotic use through both the public health and healthcare systems include:

• Independence Health Department (Independence, Missouri)
• Connecticut Department of Public Health
• Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention 

Read the stories above or download the full packet of tools and resources here. For more information about this initiative, please contact Vanessa Lamers at [email protected].

This initiative compliments PHF's collaboration with the IHI to help hospitals reduce healthcare-associated Infections (HAIs) due to antibiotic resistance. People who develop infections that are resistant to antibiotics have increased risk of hospitalization and being transferred to an intensive care unit. This can result in higher hospital costs, a longer hospital stay, and higher risk of death.

• Developing a Population Health Driver Diagram Tool
• Using a Population Health Driver Diagram to Support Health Care and Public Health Collaboration Discussion Paper, published by the Institute of Medicine
• Building Cross-Sector Collaborations to Promote Effective Antibiotic Use in Inpatient, Outpatient, and Long-Term Care Settings Webinar from February 2017
• Customized technical assistance to develop and implement a population health driver diagram
• Population health resources in PHF's Public Health Improvement Resource Center