Antibiotic Stewardship

Despite the importance of the specialty of infectious diseases in modern medicine — made all the more evident by the COVID-19 pandemic — many rural areas of the United States do not have access to specialized ID care.

An outpatient antibiotic stewardship bundle initiative reduced unnecessary antibiotic prescribing for respiratory infections without increasing repeat health care contacts, a recent study showed.

Antibiotic use among critically ill patients hospitalized with COVID-19 declined between 2020 and 2022, researchers found.

Antibiotic stewardship efforts are likely responsible for a substantial decline in antibiotic use in neonatal ICUs, researchers reported in JAMA Pediatrics.

More than a dozen pediatric ICUs were able to sustain reductions in blood culture rates during a 2-year period following a diagnostic stewardship effort aimed at safely improving ordering practices, researchers reported in JAMA Pediatrics.

A lot of modern medicine is based on what Brad Spellberg, MD, and others call “inertial dogmas” — practices traced to decades-old evidence that are no longer supported by modern studies.

Implementing a pharmacist-driven MRSA nasal-swab ordering protocol, followed by a 72-hour approval protocol, led to a significant reduction in antibiotic administration and vancomycin use, researchers found.

Patients with gram-negative bloodstream infections had a decreased risk for 30-day mortality if they received an infectious disease consultation as part of their care, researchers reported.

PHILADELPHIA — In this video, Claudine Kabera, MPH, an epidemiologist at the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine, discusses the U.S. government’s efforts to monitor the food supply for antimicrobial resistance.

PHILADELPHIA — In this video, Bruce Y. Lee, MD, MBA, discusses a panel he moderated at the World Anti-Microbial Resistance Congress on how to move the topic of antimicrobial resistance to the forefront in conversations about preparedness.