How Can Behavioral Change Interventions Improve Antibiotic Prescribing?

Conan MacDougall, PharmD, professor of clinical pharmacy, University of California, San Francisco, discusses how behavioral change interventions can positively impact the antibiotic prescribing environment.

Interview Transcript (slightly modified for readability)

“When you’re thinking about the effects of behavioral change, it’s important to think about both the effectiveness of different strategies and their efficiency. So, strategies like audited feedback that are typically used in antimicrobial stewardship are very effective, but they’re not necessarily efficient; they require a lot of manpower, a lot of time.

Other strategies that involve changing the antibiotic prescribing environment, what we might call ‘behavioral nudges,’ might be less effective on a per interaction basis, but can be scaled quickly using technology, so these might be things like changing antibiotic order entry set, or providing feedback to providers on how their antibiotic prescribing is similar to or different than other prescribers and how it meets institutional goals.”