OhioHealth Medical Minute: OhioHealth Caresites Receive IDSA Antimicrobial Stewardship Centers of Excellence Designation
Four OhioHealth Hospitals – Doctors, Grant, Mansfield and Riverside – joined Marion General as being awarded the designation of Antimicrobial Stewardship Center of Excellence by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. The designated hospitals have created stewardship programs led by ID-trained physicians and pharmacists that advance science in Antimicrobial Resistance and have achieved standards aligned with evidence-based national guidelines such as the IDSA-SHEA guidelines and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Core Elements.
“While the world’s attention is rightfully focused on fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, drug resistant infections continue. One of IDSA’s top priorities is fighting antimicrobial resistance through research, education, training and policy initiatives. Our Centers of Excellence program honors institutions that have demonstrated leadership in that fight. These five hospitals, and each of the CoE designees, serve a critical role in ensuring that we protect the tools we have against resistant infections, setting a high standard for others to follow,” said IDSA President Thomas M. File, Jr., M.D., FIDSA.
The core criteria for the CoE program place emphasis on an institution’s ability to implement stewardship protocols by integrating best practices to slow the emergence of resistance, optimize the treatment of infections, and reduce adverse events associated with antibiotic use and other challenging areas related to antimicrobial stewardship. A panel of IDSA member experts in antimicrobial stewardship, including ID-trained physicians and ID-trained pharmacists, evaluate CoE applications against high-level criteria established for determining merit, developed by IDSA leadership.
"At OhioHealth we have a team of dedicated antimicrobial stewardship pharmasists at every caresite," said Amy Beatty, OhioHealth senior director, pharmacy services. "These pharmacists target effective anti-infective use to reduce the resistance of these pathogens to our available agents that we use to treat them. So by reducing this resistance, this ensures we are giving our patients at OhioHealth the best opportunity to be cured of these serious infections."
Congratulations to the following individuals for helping these OhioHealth hospitals achieve this designation:
- Joseph Gastaldo, MD
- Jeremy Taylor (Doctors)
- Lauren Lopez (Grant)
- Caroline Jozefczyk (Mansfield)
- Tara Fisher and Ashraf Kittaneh (Riverside)
To learn more about the IDSA Antimicrobial Stewardship Centers of Excellence program, visit www.idsociety.org/clinical-practice/antimicrobial-stewardship/.
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The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) represents over 12,000 physicians, scientists and other health care professionals who specialize in infectious diseases. IDSA’s purpose is to improve the health of individuals, communities, and society by promoting excellence in patient care, education, research, public health and prevention relating to infectious diseases. www.idsociety.org
