Title

Implementing an Antibiotic Stewardship Program

Authoring Organizations

Infectious Diseases Society of America

Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America

Publication Month/Year

April 13, 2016

Last Updated Month/Year

November 25, 2024

Supplemental Implementation Tools

Document Type

Guideline

External Publication Status

Published

Country of Publication

US

Document Objectives

The purpose of this guideline is to comprehensively evaluate the wide range of interventions that can be implemented by Antibiotic Stewardship Programs (ASPs) in emergency department, acute inpatient, and longterm care settings as they determine the best approaches to influence the optimal use of antibiotics within their own institutional environments.

PICO Questions

  1. Does the Use of Preauthorization and/or Prospective Audit and Feedback Interventions by ASPs Improve Antibiotic Utilization and Patient Outcomes?

  2. Is Didactic Education a Useful Antibiotic Stewardship Intervention for Reducing Inappropriate Antibiotic Use?

  3. Should ASPs Develop and Implement Facility-Specific Clinical Practice Guidelines for Common Infectious Diseases Syndromes to Improve Antibiotic Utilization and Patient Outcomes?

  4. Should ASPs Implement Interventions to Improve Antibiotic Use and Clinical Outcomes That Target Patients With Specific Infectious Diseases Syndromes?

  5. Should ASPs Implement Interventions Designed to Reduce the Use of Antibiotics Associated With a High Risk of CDI?

  6. Do Strategies to Encourage Prescriber-Led Review of Appropriateness of Antibiotic Regimens, in the Absence of Direct Input From an Antibiotic Stewardship Team, Improve Antibiotic Prescribing?

  7. Should Computerized Clinical Decision Support Systems Integrated Into the Electronic Health Record at the Time of Prescribing be Incorporated as Part of ASPs to Improve Antibiotic Prescribing?

  8. Should ASPs Implement Strategies That Promote Cycling or Mixing in Antibiotic Selection to Reduce Antibiotic Resistance?

  9. In Hospitalized Patients Requiring Intravenous (IV) Antibiotics, Does a Dedicated Pharmacokinetic (PK) Monitoring and Adjustment Program Lead to Improved Clinical Outcomes and Reduced Costs?

  10. In Hospitalized Patients, Should ASPs Advocate for Alternative Dosing Strategies Based on PK/Pharmacodynamic Principles to Improve Outcomes and Decrease Costs for Broad-Spectrum ß-Lactams and Vancomycin?

  11. Should ASPs Implement Interventions to Increase Use of Oral Antibiotics as a Strategy to Improve Outcomes or Decrease Costs?

  12. In Patients With a Reported History of ß-Lactam Allergy, Should ASPs Facilitate Initiatives to Implement Allergy Assessments With the Goal of Improved Use of First-Line Antibiotics?

  13. Should ASPs Implement Interventions to Reduce Antibiotic Therapy to the Shortest Effective Duration?

  14. Should ASPs Work With the Microbiology Laboratory to Develop Stratified Antibiograms, Compared With Nonstratified Antibiograms?

  15. Should ASPs Work With the Microbiology Laboratory to Perform Selective or Cascade Reporting of Antibiotic Susceptibility Test Results?

  16. Should ASPs Advocate for Use of Rapid Viral Testing for Respiratory Pathogens to Reduce the Use of Inappropriate Antibiotics?

  17. Should ASPs Advocate for Rapid Diagnostic Testing on Blood Specimens to Optimize Antibiotic Therapy and Improve Clinical Outcomes?

  18. In Adults in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) With Suspected Infection, Should ASPs Advocate Procalcitonin (PCT) Testing as an Intervention to Decrease Antibiotic Use?

  19. In Patients With Hematologic Malignancy, Should ASPs Advocate for Incorporation of Nonculture-Based Fungal Markers in Interventions to Optimize Antifungal Use?

  20. Which Overall Measures Best Reflect the Impact of ASPs and Their Interventions?

  21. What is the Best Measure of Expenditures on Antibiotics to Assess the Impact of ASPs and Interventions?

  22. What Measures Best Reflect the Impact of Interventions to Improve Antibiotic Use and Clinical Outcomes in Patients With Specific Infectious Diseases Syndromes?

  23. Should ASPs Develop Facility-Specific Clinical Guidelines for Management of Fever and Neutropenia (F&N) in Hematology-Oncology Patients to Reduce Unnecessary Antibiotic Use and Improve Outcomes?

  24. In Immunocompromised Patients Receiving Antifungal Therapy, do Interventions by ASPs Improve Utilization and Outcomes?

  25. In Residents of Nursing Homes and Skilled Nursing Facilities, do Antibiotic Stewardship Strategies Decrease Unnecessary Use of Antibiotics and Improve Clinical Outcomes?

  26. In Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs), do Antibiotic Stewardship Interventions Reduce Inappropriate Antibiotic Use and/or Resistance?

  27. Should ASPs Implement Interventions to Reduce Antibiotic Therapy in Terminally Ill Patients?

Inclusion Criteria

Male, Female, Adolescent, Adult, Child, Infant, Older adult

Health Care Settings

Hospital, Outpatient, Operating and recovery room

Intended Users

Epidemiology infection prevention, nurse, nurse practitioner, health systems pharmacist, physician, physician assistant

Scope

Management, Prevention

Keywords

Antibiotic Stewardship, Antimicrobial Stewardship, ASP, Antibiotic Resistance

Source Citation

Barlam TF, Cosgrove SE, Abbo L, et al. Implementing an Antibiotic Stewardship Program: Guidelines by the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. Clinical Infectious Diseases 2016; 62:1-27.

Methodology

Number of Source Documents
225
Literature Search Start Date
July 1, 2013
Literature Search End Date
September 1, 2013