By Hans H. Liu, MD, FACP, Director, BMH Antimicrobial Stewardship Program, and Lisa Cushinotto, PharmD, BCPS, Clinical Pharmacist Specialist, Infectious Diseases
Antibiotic resistance is now a major issue confronting health care providers and their patients. Changing antibiotic resistance patterns, rising antibiotic costs, and the introduction of few new antibiotics have made selecting optimal antibiotic regimens more difficult now than ever before. History has taught us that if we do not use antibiotics carefully, they will lose their efficacy.
November 14-20, 2016 is the ninth annual Get Smart About Antibiotics Week, organized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This event focuses on raising awareness of antibiotic resistance and the importance of appropriate antibiotic prescribing. Studies indicate that up to 50% of antibiotic use in hospitals is unnecessary or inappropriate. We would like to remind our physicians, prescribers, and hospital staff of the following important messages:
- Avoid unnecessary antibiotics (e.g. for viral infections)
- Reassess and de-escalate broad spectrum antibiotic regimens
- Narrow therapy based on culture data
- Prescribe shorter treatment courses when proven effective
- Improve hand-hygiene practices to prevent the spread of resistant bacteria
As a response to these challenges, the acute care hospitals of MLHS have implemented antimicrobial stewardship programs as a commitment to improve and promote the responsible use of antibiotics within our organization. Stewardship programs have been proven to improve patient outcomes, reduce antibiotic resistance, reduce Clostridium difficile infections and decrease healthcare costs. Many organizations support the implementation of stewardship programs, including The Joint Commission who has issued an accreditation standard for acute care hospitals to have an antimicrobial stewardship program in place by January 1, 2017.
Our Antimicrobial Stewardship Teams
BMH: Hans H. Liu, MD, FACP
Lisa Cushinotto, PharmD, BCPS
LMC: Brett Gilbert, DO
Jessica Cprek, PharmD, BCPS
PH: Young S. Kim, MD
Andrea Weeks, PharmD
RH: Mark Gilbert, MD
Isabel Quintans, PharmD
For more information please visit the CDC Get Smart website: http://www.cdc.gov/getsmart/index.html
References:
CDC – Get Smart: Know When Antibiotics Work.http://www.cdc.gov/getsmart/community/ about/should-know.html. October 21, 2016.
CDC – Get Smart for Healthcare. http://www.cdc.gov/getsmart/healthcare/evidence.html. October 21, 2016.
CDC – Get Smart About Antibiotics Week. http://www.cdc.gov/getsmart/week/index.html. October 21, 2016.
CDC. Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States (2013). http://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/pdf/ar-threats-2013-508.pdf. October 21, 2016
The Joint Commission. New Antimicrobial Stewardship Standard. Joint Commission Perspectives, July 2016, Volume 36, Issue 7. https://www.jointcommission.org/ assets/1/6/ New_Antimicrobial_Stewardship_Standard.pdf.