An antibiotic stewardship program at one New York hospital saved the hospital more than $600,000 and decreased the rate of antibiotic-resistant infections, according to a study presented at the 54th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.
Flushing, N.Y.-based New York Hospital Queens implemented a hospital-wide antibiotic stewardship program and tracked the rate of antibiotic-resistant infections, antibiotic use patterns and antibiotic-related costs.
In addition to the major cost savings achieved in just one year, rates of antibiotic-resistant infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, multidrug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Clostridium difficile also decreased.
"We believe these findings show that limiting unnecessary antibiotics improves patient safety and streamlines use of limited healthcare dollars," said Nishant Prasad, MD, attending physician in The Dr. James J. Rahal, Jr. Division of Infectious Diseases at New York Hospital Queens.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides a free checklist to for core elements of hospital antibiotic stewardship programs.