Evaluating an Antibiotic Stewardship Collaborative in New York State Hospitals

Antibiotic stewardship programs are of significant importance to reduce the spread of antibiotic-resistant infections. According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), upwards of 2.8 million individuals per year acquire an antibiotic-resistant infection, and 35,000 of these individuals die.

In an attempt to improve the reporting of antimicrobial use (AU) and antimicrobial resistance (AR), the National Healthcare Safety Network introduced an Antimicrobial Use and Resistance (AUR) module.

In 2015, the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS) formed an Antibiotic Stewardship Collaborative that included 180 hospitals.

HANYS recently conducted a study to evaluate the program after 1 year of its implementation.

The data was presented at the 2021 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology conference virtual sessions.

The aim of the study was to understand if any differences existed between hospitals who joined the collaborative and those who opted out, if the collaborative led to a significant reduction in rates of hospital acquired C. difficile infection (HA-CDI), and the reasons hospitals chose to join or not join.

The study included a comparative analysis, a regression analysis and semi-structured interviews.

Findings from the study showed that while no significant reduction in HA-CDI was seen, all 44 hospitals that participated developed the IT infrastructure necessary to track and report antibiotic usage data, a significant accomplishment.

Additionally, it was demonstrated that hospitals who have a limited amount of resources may be the most hesitant to join a collaborative, unless the proper inducements are in place, like grant money that will help fund the necessary infrastructure changes.

“Facilities who participated in the collaborative are now better positioned to respond to future changes in regulatory requirements related to antibiotic usage reporting,” the authors wrote. “This study provides evidence the collaborative model is an effective way for getting hospitals to take serious steps toward developing and strengthening antibiotic stewardship programs.”