By the bioMérieux Connection Editors
For decades, the performance of antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) has been measured by incidence rates of hospital-onset Clostridioides dificile and other infections due to multidrug-resistant bacteria. However, Julie Ann Justo, PharmD, MS, BCPS-AQ ID, P. Brandon Bookstaver, PharmD, FCCP, FIDSA, BCPS and Hana Rac Winders, PharmD, BCIDP, the presenters of today’s webinar, will argue how these measurements represent indirect and nonspecific performance metrics.
During “Direct Measurement of Performance: A New Era in Antimicrobial Stewardship,” the presenters will discuss how ASP key performance indicators are often confounded by factors beyond an ASP’s control. For example, variability in practice areas, institutions, resources and infrastructure can all hinder the effectiveness of ASP metrics. All three presenters are faculty members of the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Outcomes Sciences at the University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy and are authors of a recent review paper published in Antibiotics Journal.
The dynamic between ASPs and infection prevention and control programs (IPCPs) is constantly changing and redefining roles and responsibilities. “Over time, ASPs have evolved and have become more focused on quality of patient care, including optimization of antimicrobial management. At the same time, C. difficile, MRSA and ESBLE have emerged as community-onset pathogens rather than predominant causes of nosocomial infections,” states the recent Antibiotics Journal article.
Overall, the webinar will compare various antimicrobial stewardship metrics and discuss how ASPs should be evaluated. Focusing on acute care hospitals, the presenters will layout proposed ASP metrics and compare their value and utility as measures of ASP performance. Ultimately, they will argue the best ASP evaluation is one that evaluates what ASPs do best and what they can control, often times being antimicrobial use within their own hospitals.
bioMérieux’s On The Front Lines webinar series was created for antimicrobial stewardship teams, to bring together laboratorians and clinicians and to share best practices for optimizing diagnostic data and technology, with the goal of preserving antibiotics for future generations. Today at 2 PM ET, bioMérieux, Inc. will be hosting the fourth webinar in the series: “Direct Measurement of Performance: A New Era in Antimicrobial Stewardship.” To register for “Direct Measurement of Performance: A New Era in Antimicrobial Stewardship,” click here.
Opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those of bioMérieux, Inc.
