St. Francis Medical Center’s Antimicrobial Stewardship Program has been awarded Silver designation as part of the California Department of Public Health’s Antimicrobial Stewardship honor roll. The designation recognizes the hospital’s commitment to improving the appropriate use of antimicrobial agents such as antibiotics. This is important in preventing the proliferation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which can occur when antimicrobials are not used in a judicious manner. These organisms can cause serious illnesses and be life-threatening if there are no effective treatments to fight them.
Silver designation is given by CDPH to facilities that have developed an antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP) that incorporates the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) seven core elements of an ASP and have demonstrated a meaningful clinical outcome. St. Francis’ ASP integrates the CDC’s core elements as follows: 1) Leadership Commitment – Administration provides dedicated human, financial and information technology; 2) Accountability – an infectious disease physician and clinical pharmacist collaborate in overseeing ASP management and outcomes; 3) Drug Expertise – a clinical pharmacist is appointed to lead the implementation efforts to improve antibiotic use; 4) Action – the ASP committee actively advances interventions to improve antibiotic use; 5) Tracking – a system has been implemented to monitor antibiotic prescribing, the impact of interventions, and other important outcomes like Clostridioides difficile infection rates and resistance patterns; 6) Reporting – antibiotic use and resistance are systematically shared with prescribers, pharmacists, nurses, and hospital leadership; and 7) Education – a culture of education has been created to promote antimicrobial stewardship across prescribers, pharmacists, and nurses and to broaden the understanding of antibiotic resistance, adverse reactions from antibiotics, and optimal prescribing.
According to St. Francis ASP Co-Chair Susan Pham, Pharm.D., “Our antimicrobial stewardship program has proven to be effective due to the strong commitment and support of our hospital and medical staff leadership. We were awarded Silver recognition for our work, in collaboration with our physicians, to produce clinically meaningful outcomes with our ASP project that focused on reducing empiric therapy, de-escalation, and shortened duration of therapy in documented infections.”
The hospital’s efforts ultimately help further the processes and practices that support the goal of prescribing the appropriate antibiotics at the right time for the proper duration to combat antimicrobial resistance.
St. Francis Medical Center Director of Pharmacy Kristen Busick, Pharm.D., said, “Our administration, physicians, pharmacists, infection preventionists, lab, and clinical teams have strong collaboration and communication. This has been the cornerstone of our antimicrobial stewardship program’s effectiveness. We are very proud to receive the silver designation for it recognizes our cooperative efforts and shared commitment to reducing antibiotic resistance and improving patient outcomes.”
Key collaborators in the hospital’s antimicrobial stewardship program are the hospital’s infectious disease physicians, including ASP Physician Co-Chair Hugh Fulmer, MD. He said, “Congratulations to the St. Francis Medical Center pharmacists, who achieved the Silver designation through their hard work and perseverance, attention to detail, following practice guidelines for treatment of various infections, and limiting treatment courses to recommended duration to reduce risk of super infections with resistant organisms, as well as Clostridiodes difficile infection.”
St. Francis Medical Center continues to commit to antimicrobial stewardship by expanding its next focus to include diagnostic stewardship, in collaboration with Laboratory/Microbiology, with the goal of reducing unnecessary testing and treatment.
For more information about St. Francis Medical Center’s antimicrobial stewardship program, please visit https://stfrancismedicalcenter.com/services/antimicrobial-stewardship-program/
