Antibiotic Stewardship
Antibiotic resistance – when bacteria stop responding to the drugs designed to kill them – may be the single most important infectious disease threat of our time. We risk turning back the clock to a world where simple infections can kill people as they did a century ago. Already more than 2 million…
A 30% reduction in the efficacy of antibiotics could increase infections and associated deaths for certain surgery and chemotherapy patients by 120,000 and 6,300 per year, respectively, according to a new study published online by The Lancet Infectious Diseases. The estimates are based on past…
Four national hospital organizations, including the AHA, yesterday urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to suspend plans to implement Oct. 1 an inpatient quality reporting measure for severe sepsis and septic shock management that conflicts with the tenets of effective…
Antibiotic stewardship was implemented in 2011 and focuses on five 'D's': Drug, De-escalation of therapy, Discontinuation of therapy, Dose and Diagnosis. The pharmacy department automatically adjusts therapy based on patient's renal function and enforces restrictions on certain antibiotics. All of…
National attention to the issue of antibiotic stewardship is increasing. Drug-resistant bacteria cause 2 million illnesses and about 23,000 deaths each year in the U.S., the CDC estimates. At a White House forum on the topic in June 2015, Jonathan Perlin, M.D., shared information about what the AHA…
The AHA today participated in a White House forum on ways to improve responsible antibiotic use, where more than 150 stakeholders committed to help thwart the public health and national security threat posed by antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
At today’s AHA Annual Membership Meeting opening plenary, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden, M.D., urged hospitals to build on the partnerships established to fight Ebola to combat antibiotic resistance in their communities. “No one facility can do this in isolation –…
At today’s opening plenary, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden, M.D., urged hospitals to build on the partnerships established to fight Ebola to combat antibiotic resistance in their communities. ”No one facility can do this in isolation – it shows the critical…
The White House today issued a five-year plan to reduce the threat of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
The president will request $1.2 billion to combat and prevent antibiotic resistance in his fiscal year 2016 budget proposal, the White House announced today. The request includes more than $650 million for the National Institutes of Health and Biomedical Advanced Research and Development…