It takes a team effort to protect every patient, every day. Norton Healthcare is dedicated to taking proactive steps to make a difference. The Norton Healthcare Antimicrobial Stewardship Program was established to optimize clinical outcomes while minimizing adverse consequences of antimicrobial use. This includes consideration of toxicity, selection of pathogenic organisms and managing emergence of resistance while being effective stewards of health care resources without adversely impacting quality of care.

The Antimicrobial Stewardship Program team works with providers across the Norton Healthcare system to ensure appropriate and timely antibiotic use to prevent antibiotic resistance that can cause issues for patients in the future.

National Award-winning Results

In December 2019, Norton Healthcare was awarded the prestigious ASHP Best Practices Award for its efforts to speed antibiotics to patients with bacterial infections that have spread to the bloodstream. The award recognized implementation of a novel rapid bacteremia response protocol.

As part of the Norton Healthcare Antimicrobial Stewardship Program efforts, the rapid bacteremia response protocol designates the pharmacy as the principal resource to get effective antibiotic treatment to patients faster. The protocol also incorporates rapid bacteria identification technology from the microbiology lab.

Implementation of this protocol reduced the average time from the moment a bloodstream infection is identified in a patient to when antibiotics are administered. A process that had taken about 10 hours was cut to 51 minutes. Improvements also were seen in antimicrobial optimization, repeat blood culture rates and prompt patient isolation in multidrug-resistant organism infections.

The award recognizes pharmacists who demonstrate leadership and innovation in enhancing patient care. Of the 77 clinical programs that applied for the award, only six in the country were honored.

Antimicrobial Stewardship Program Team

Ashley Wilde, PharmD, BCIDP
Director, Infectious Diseases Clinical Programs and Research

Sarah Moore, PharmD, BCIDP
Clinical Pharmacy Specialist – Infectious Diseases, Norton Audubon Hospital

Matthew Song, PharmD, BCIDP
Clinical Pharmacy Specialist – Infectious Diseases, Norton Hospital

Elena Swingler, PharmD
Clinical Pharmacy Specialist – Infectious Diseases, Norton Women’s and Children’s Hospital