Evaluation of a Customizable Antibiotic Stewardship Program Tailored to French Nursing Homes

To tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR), i.e., one of the top 10 global health threats, antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) programs, i.e., coherent sets of actions promoting responsible use of antimicrobials, have been developed. Despite growing evidence about their effectiveness, their implementation remains suboptimal. Qualifying as complex interventions, these programs are prone to interactions with context, potentially compromising their successful transfer to other settings. AMR remains critical in French nursing homes (NHs). AMS programs have proven effective in reducing antimicrobial resistance in hospitals and in NHs. However, the evidence is inconsistent across studies in NHs and mostly based on North American and North European AMS programs and studies, raising concerns about transferability that might occur while implementing such AMS programs in French NHs. For instance, health systems and NH funding and organization vary considerably across countries, resulting in potential key determinants driving antibiotic use in such facilities in some countries that might remain untargeted by AMS programs developed in other countries. In addition, inconsistent effectiveness of AMS programs in NHs might also result from implementation issues, raising concerns about the strategies used to implement such programs. Based on extensive logic models linking psychosocial and organizational determinants driving antibiotic use in NHs of diverse countries, we developed and pilot-tested a customizable AMS program (i.e., the ORANEAT program) suited to French NHs, including three major components: (i) a contextual diagnostic regarding AMS in the targeted NH; (ii) based on the results of the contextual diagnostic, a bundle of tools selected from an AMS-toolkit including actions and tools suited to French NH setting; and (iii) implementation support relying on French structures involved in tackling AMR (i.e., CRAtb and CPias).

This study aims to assess the effectiveness, the sustainability, the implementation, and the transferability of the ORANEAT program in French NHs, using a mixed-method approach (quantitative and qualitative data). A cluster randomized controlled trial with two arms (ORANEAT program vs. no specific intervention) will be conducted; the cluster being the NH. The primary outcome to measure the effectiveness is total antibiotic use expressed in defined daily doses/1000 resident-days/month.