Continued Success of Small Hospital’s “Bug Squad” a Wake-Up Call for Healthcare Facilities Still Lagging in Antibiotic Stewardship

By the bioMérieux Connection Editors St. Luke’s Magic Valley (SLMV) Medical Center in Twin Falls, Idaho, provides a model case for how a small hospital can dramatically reduce overuse of antimicrobial drugs when the microbiology lab and pharmacy work collectively and continuously with the clinical staff on stewardship. St. Luke’s “Bug Squad” program saved the …

Resistance is not the only Danger of Antibiotic Overuse

By Chris Cook, PharmD, Ph.D. In addition to the development or resistant strains, the overexposure to antibiotics has many other serious adverse effects and toxicities. Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) infection is one of the most obvious. Other complications include skin rash, antibiotic allergies and serious organ toxicities. Recently, vancomycin and piperacillin/tazobactam treatment was found to …