Drug Resistance and Anti-Infective Home Infusions: An Educational Program for Chronic Disease Patients and Their Caregivers 

Home Care Association of New York State Education and Research (HCA E&R), Sepsis Alliance and Eddy Visiting Nurse & Rehab Association (VNRA) developed patient education tools and resources to support complex infusion care at home under an independent educational grant from Pfizer Inc. 

 The educational program aims to educate chronic disease patients receiving anti-infective home infusions, and caregivers of these patients, about drug resistance. The key learning outcomes to be met in this project include:

1. Increased awareness and understanding of drug resistance concepts;  
2. How to monitor for signs of infection during the home infusion;  
3. The importance of following provider guidelines including follow-up; and  
4. Why effective anti-infectives are so important for chronic disease patients. 

In Year 1, we developed the patient education materials (zone sheet, brochure, and animated video) and recruited the following providers to test the materials. 

• Rochester Regional
• The Eddy
• VNA of Western NY

In Year 2, we administered the patient education material and tracked their progress through pre- and post- learning scores. Our goal was to educate 125 patients and analyze the effectiveness of the patient education.

Today, the resources are available for patients and caregivers to download at no cost from Sepsis Alliance.