Background: Closing the gap between evidence-supported antibiotic use and prescribing patterns among clinicians is a vital component of curbing excessive antibiotic use, a practice that fosters antimicrobial resistance and exposes patients to the side effects of antimicrobial agents. Providing medication prescribing information via scorecard has been shown to improve clinician adherence to quality metrics in […]

Background: Asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB), the presence of bacteria in urine without signs or symptoms of a urinary tract infection, is a common finding. The current recommendation by the Infectious Diseases Society of America is against screening for and treating ASB in patients undergoing non-urologic surgeries, due to the lack of demonstrable benefit in reducing the […]

Background: Proton Pump Inhibitors are widely misused in both the outpatient and inpatient setting. Often, they are initiated and continued for reasons that do not follow best practice guidelines. Purpose: A Proton Pump Inhibitor Stewardship Committee was created to address this problem as part of a Quality Improvement project. The goal was to determine the […]

Background: The CDC recognizes antimicrobial resistance as an urgent global public health threat and supports antibiotic stewardship initiatives to combat antibiotic resistance. Pneumonia is a frequent condition treated by both hospitalists and emergency room physicians and the most common reason for inpatient antibiotic use and over prescribing. Recent IDSA guidelines for the treatment of community […]

Background: Clostroidiodes difficile (CD) is the most prevalent hospital-acquired infection in the United States, accounting for approximately 224,000 infections with 13,000 deaths and over 1 billion dollars spent in 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Clostroidiodes difficile accounts for 10-20% of diarrhea in the setting of recent antibiotics exposure.In St […]

Background: US healthcare costs are exorbitant and excessive lab utilization contributes significantly1. Daily labs (DLs) are often over-ordered for inpatients.2 This leads to increased costs, iatrogenic anemia, patient discomfort and limits phlebotomy resources 3. The Choosing Wisely® campaign recommends against checking DL in patients who have clinical and lab stability5. Previous quality improvement initiatives have […]