The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) recently designated Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis as an Antimicrobial Stewardship Center of Excellence (CoE). The program, launched in the fall of 2017, recognizes institutions that achieve standards established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for antimicrobial stewardship programs led by Infectious Disease physicians and ID-trained pharmacists.
“IDSA is committed to infectious diseases-led antimicrobial stewardship programs as an essential component in the fight against antimicrobial resistance that leads to more than 23,000 deaths per year and over $20 billion in unnecessary health care costs,” said IDSA President Paul Auwaerter, MD “The IDSA Antimicrobial Stewardship Centers of Excellence program recognizes institutions that lead in establishing highly effective antimicrobial stewardship programs that help clinicians give their patients optimal anti-infective therapies.”
Kevin Hsueh, MD, medical director of the antimicrobial stewardship program at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, is an assistant professor of medicine in the Infectious Diseases Division. He joined Washington University in 2014 to lead the hospital stewardship program.
The core criteria for the IDSA Antimicrobial Stewardship Centers of Excellence were developed by a workgroup of infectious diseases physicians and ID-trained pharmacists and built upon the criteria detailed in the CDC’s Core Elements of Hospital Antibiotic Stewardship Programs. The CoE program places particular emphasis on an institution’s ability to implement stewardship protocols, using their electronic health records system, as well as to provide ongoing education to its medical staff.
The goals of the program are to recognize those that have achieved high standards in their stewardship programs and highlight the value of stewardship over the valuable – but vulnerable – drug supply. Additional information is available at here.