Optimizing Use of Clinical Microbiology Laboratory Data to Address Antimicrobial Stewardship Initiatives

Course overview

In this presentation, we will discuss why the clinical microbiology laboratory is an integral part to the antimicrobial stewardship team. Cases demonstrating the successful incorporation of laboratory data and comments into the electronic health record and the antibiogram for antimicrobial stewardship purposes will be presented. This will include antimicrobial susceptibility reporting strategies (e.g. suppression & cascade rules), implementation of rapid diagnostic tools to help guide therapy and the creation of enhanced antibiograms that go beyond the cumulative antimicrobial susceptibility report (e.g. inclusion of antimicrobial resistance mechanisms or population based antibiograms). Learning Objectives: Describe how clinical microbiology laboratory data can help antimicrobial stewardship initiatives. Discuss enhanced antibiograms that incorporate additional information beyond cumulative antimicrobial susceptibility testing data (e.g., antimicrobial resistance mechanisms). Demonstrate cases of successful incorporation of laboratory data and comments into the electronic health record for antimicrobial stewardship purposes.