Words of wisdom
This project proves, however, that stewardship is possible, even without dedicated time from infectious disease specialists or expensive computer systems, Dr. Dumkow concluded. With training and authority, all hospital pharmacists can play a key role in improving inpatient antibiotic prescribing.
“These pharmacists are often familiar with the hospital formulary and antibiogram,” she said. “They can alert you to missteps that are being taken with antimicrobial prescribing at the time, instead of retrospectively having to go back and look at those patients.”