Abstract

Inappropriate antibiotic prescribing for pediatric upper respiratory infections (URIs) remains a significant public health concern, contributing to antimicrobial resistance, adverse drug events, and increased healthcare costs. Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) students represent future prescribers who play an important role in promoting evidence-based antibiotic use and antimicrobial stewardship. The purpose of this Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) project was to evaluate the effectiveness of an educational intervention designed to improve second year FNP students’ knowledge and confidence regarding pediatric URI management and antibiotic stewardship. The project was implemented at a Midwestern college of nursing and utilized a pre- and post-intervention observational design. Approximately 33 second-year DNP-FNP students completed a 40-minute asynchronous online educational module focused on appropriate antibiotic use. Participants were invited to complete surveys before and after the intervention.  However, only two participants completed both the pre and post intervention surveys, limiting the ability to draw meaningful conclusions from the results. Surveys assessed both knowledge and self-reported confidence related to antibiotic stewardship practices. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze knowledge and confidence scores before and after completion of the educational module. Compared to the pre-intervention confidence scores (M = 15.0, SD = 1.41, N = 2), the post-intervention survey revealed higher confidence scores (M = 18.5, SD = 0.71, N = 2). Similarly, when assessing knowledge there was improvement seen between the pre-intervention scores (M = 4.5, SD = 0.71, N = 2) and the post-intervention survey scores (M = 5, SD = 0, N = 2). Findings from this project support implementing enhanced antimicrobial stewardship education among future nurse practitioners.

Description

NRS 882 Doctoral Scholarly Project II

Author Details

Kelsea Marescalco, BSN, DNP-Student; Christina Vejnovich, DNP, APRN-CNS, AGCNS-BC, CDP, CADDCT, PCCN-K

Sigma Membership

Tau Tau

Type

DNP Capstone Project

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

Quality Improvement

Research Approach

Quantitative Research

Keywords:

Family Nurse Practitioner Students, Education of Nurse Practitioners, Antibiotic Stewardship, Antimicrobial Stewardship, Pediatric, Child Patients, Upper Respiratory Infections, Respiratory Infections, Inappropriate Prescribing (Medicine)

Advisor

Christina Vejnovich

Second Advisor

Tara Whitmire

Degree

DNP

Degree Grantor

Nebraska Methodist College

Degree Year

2026

Rights Holder

All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record. All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository. All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Review Type

None: Degree-based Submission

Acquisition

Self-submission

Date of Issue

2026-10-14

Full Text of Presentation

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