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Engaging hospitalists in antimicrobial stewardship: Lessons from a multihospital collaborative
Author(s) -
Mack Megan R.,
Rohde Jeffrey M.,
Jacobsen Diane,
Barron James R.,
Ko Christin,
Goonewardene Michael,
Rosenberg David J.,
Srinivasan Arjun,
Flanders Scott A.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of hospital medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.128
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1553-5606
pISSN - 1553-5592
DOI - 10.1002/jhm.2599
Subject(s) - antimicrobial stewardship , medicine , hospital medicine , psychological intervention , documentation , best practice , health care , medline , discontinuation , deprescribing , family medicine , nursing , intensive care medicine , polypharmacy , antibiotic resistance , management , computer science , law , political science , microbiology and biotechnology , economics , biology , programming language , economic growth , antibiotics
Inappropriate antimicrobial use in hospitalized patients contributes to antimicrobial‐resistant infections and complications. We sought to evaluate the impact, barriers, and facilitators of antimicrobial stewardship best practices in a diverse group of hospital medicine programs. This multihospital initiative included 1 community nonteaching hospital, 2 community teaching hospitals, and 2 academic medical centers participating in a collaborative with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. We conducted multimodal physician education on best practices for antimicrobial use including: (1) enhanced antimicrobial documentation, (2) improved quality and accessibility of local clinical guidelines, and (3) a 72‐hour antimicrobial “timeout.” Implementation barriers included variability in physician practice styles, lack of awareness of stewardship importance, and overly broad interventions. Facilitators included engaging hospitalists, collecting real time data and providing performance feedback, and appropriately limiting the scope of interventions. In 2 hospitals, complete antimicrobial documentation in sampled medical records improved significantly (4% to 51% and 8% to 65%, P < 0.001 for each comparison). A total of 726 antimicrobial timeouts occurred at 4 hospitals, and 30% resulted in optimization or discontinuation of antimicrobials. With careful attention to key barriers and facilitators, hospitalists can successfully implement effective antimicrobial stewardship practices. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2016;11:576–580. © 2016 Society of Hospital Medicine