Diagnostic Stewardship Applications: Improving Appropriate Use of Antimicrobials

Course overview

In this talk, Drs. Woods- Hill and Sick-Samuels will discuss the harms of testing overuse, including the impact on antibiotic use. They will show how diagnostic stewardship focusing on clinician decision support can reduce blood cultures and endotracheal culture overuse and antibiotic treatment in the pediatric intensive care unit setting. They will discuss completed and ongoing multicenter studies applying quality improvement, human factors and implementation science principles to improve culture practices. Learning Objectives Understand the risks of over-testing leading to antibiotic over-use and recognize opportunities for diagnostic stewardship of blood and endotracheal cultures to improve patient care. Learn how BrighT STAR collaborative hospitals have applied quality improvement, implementation science, and human factors engineering principles to improve culture practices. Introduce ongoing studies and future research needs.