Ascension today helped kick off a national effort to slow the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and prevent the spread of resistant infections. Making the announcement at a White House Forum on Antibiotic Stewardship alongside others in the industry, Ascension committed to a five-year action plan that implements facility-based antimicrobial stewardship programs in all hospitals across its Ascension Health subsidiary.
Ann Hendrich RN, PhD, FAAN, Senior Vice President, Chief Quality/Safety and Nursing Officer for Ascension Health, spoke at the White House and emphasized priority goals that will have ownership and accountability at all 1,900 sites of care across Ascension.
“Ascension has made a bold commitment to help prevent infectious disease in all of our hospitals nationwide — a goal we hope will set the pace for the nation in antimicrobial stewardship,” Dr. Hendrich said. “Across all hospitals nationwide, Ascension already has put infrastructure in place to strengthen antibiotic surveillance and make significant reduction efforts that are critical to improving healthcare delivery in our facilities and improving the health of all those we serve.
“Antibiotic-resistant organisms are an increasingly significant — and potentially deadly — challenge in healthcare delivery. As an organization, we are compelled to find innovative ways to protect patients and improve outcomes — we strongly encourage others in the industry to do the same.”
Ascension already has created a national multi-disciplinary Ascension Health Antimicrobial Stewardship committee dedicated to establishing expertise at every hospital location, and has invested $16.5 million in an infection surveillance and medication management system, which provides decision support for antibiotic management and infection prevention. With a dashboard for antimicrobial use, directors of pharmacy in each hospital will be accountable for the rational use of broad-spectrum and niche agents.
With the announcement today, Ascension has pledged to establish facility-based antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) in all Ascension hospitals that will include both a pharmacist and a physician with antimicrobial expertise — a dyad that will partner to implement prospective antibiotic monitoring. Ascension will engage facility Chief Medical Officers to own the physician component. In addition, Ascension will engage its nurses, who already have played a crucial role in the reduction of hospital acquired infections, such as catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) and central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI).
Finally, Ascension will continue is adoption of the seven Centers for Disease Control and Prevention core elements for ASPs by implementing cost-effective standardization across the national system, streamlining formulary for antimicrobials with clear indications for use and duration based on medical evidence. Ascension Health hospitals will reduce the use of three broad-spectrum or niche antimicrobials, with a goal of at least a 10 percent reduction during the first 12-18 months of implementation. Hospitals also will promote culturing stewardship to reduce patients’ unnecessary exposure to antimicrobials. Patients and family members will be engaged, too, through education programs explaining the risks of overusing antibiotics.
