Antimicrobial stewardship and quality improvement strategies in critical access hospitals: a process evaluation of an intensive quality improvement cohort

Abstract

We describe our experience implementing an intensive quality improvement cohort pilot focused on managing asymptomatic bacteriuria in 19 critical access hospitals. Participation in the pilot was high, and almost all sites identified an improvement goal and collected clinical data. Barriers to implementation included staffing shortages, turnover, and lack of bandwidth.