Once a hospital implemented an antibiotic stewardship program, hospitalized children were three times less likely to get a Clostridium difficile infection, according to research presented at IDWeek 2015.
Researchers compared C. diff infection rates at UC Davis Children's Hospital in Sacramento, Calif., before implementing an antibiotic stewardship program (from 2008 through 2010) and after (from 2011 through 2014).
They found rates of C. diff infections decreased from 9.2 to 2.8 per 10,000 patient days, a more than three-fold decrease.
Additionally, they found the antibiotic stewardship program was also linked to decreased costs. When researchers examined all antibiotics, they found an annual savings of $56,030, or a 20 percent savings, attributable to the stewardship program.