A little more than one-third of acute care hospitals in the U.S. adhere to best practices to promote appropriate use of antibiotics, according to a new report.
An analysis of more than 4,100 U.S. acute-care hospitals recently published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases found that 39% had an antibiotics stewardship program that met all seven of the core elements recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC recommends hospitals should dedicate appropriate resources, appoint a single leader to run a program, and appoint a pharmacy leader who can focus on improving antibiotic use.
Also, successfully run stewardship programs should closely monitor prescribing patterns and regularly report on antibiotic use and the occurrence of antibiotic-resistant infections to clinical staff. Hospitals should also educate staff on resistance and good prescribing practices.
Among the hospitals that met all seven elements, 59% were facilities with more than 200 inpatient beds; 25% were hospitals with fewer than 50 beds.
