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Antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) in urgent care settings appear to produce practice improvement, according to a new systematic review published in Cureus. Researchers evaluated literature reporting on ASPs specifically in urgent care settings and found that 11 of 12 completed studies demonstrated reduced antimicrobial prescribing or improved appropriateness in prescribing patterns among clinicians. Education and guideline-based strategies produced some of the largest improvements. For example, an intervention that used clinical pathway pocket-card algorithms to guide antibiotic prescribing for pharyngitis and acute otitis media decreased broad-spectrum prescribing 80% for pharyngitis and 29.5%–55.2% for acute otitis media. Various other educational interventions reduced overall prescribing by 30.9% and broad-spectrum use by 62.7%. The authors found clinical decision support, audit and feedback, peer comparison, and pharmacist review interventions were also effective.
Nuanced programming: Studies included in the review were published during 2016 –2026, so the overview reflects fairly recent practice. However, the authors note that stewardship programs did not universally result in clinicians prescribing fewer antibiotics. Some programs improved antibiotic selection or encouraged earlier appropriate treatment. For clinical leaders, the findings suggest multifaceted stewardship programs should include comprehensive measures rather than just fewer prescriptions. Take advantage of tailored ASP clinical resources on the Urgent Care Association Resource Page.