Vol.69 No.4 July 2021
Effects of an intervention by a pharmacist on an antimicrobial stewardship team for patients with positive blood cultures for Enterobacteriaceae
1)Department of Pharmacy, Juntendo University Hospital, 3-1-3 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan
2)Department of Clinical Laboratory, Juntendo University Hospital
3)Department of General Medicine, Juntendo University Faculty of Medicine
Abstract
As the isolation rates of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria, such as extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing bacteria and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, are increasing around the world, there is urgent need to promote antimicrobial stewardship (AS) programs. As part of the AS implementation system, antimicrobial stewardship team (AST) including pharmacists should be responsible for the treatment of infectious diseases. To investigate the inclusion of pharmacists in ASTs, we compared the acceptance rates of interventions before and after a pharmacist was assigned as a full-time employee of our AST in November 2018 for patients with positive blood cultures for Enterobacteriaceae, and verified the effects of AS promotion by the full-time pharmacist. After assignment of the dedicated pharmacist to the AST, the acceptance rates for "proposal of dosage according to renal function" increased significantly, and the treatment period for patients with infectious diseases decreased significantly, suggesting that the intervention by the pharmacist, who provided prescription support based on an in-house antimicrobial prescription manual, led to more appropriate drug treatment. These findings indicate that placing a full-time pharmacist on an AST is very helpful for improving the quality of treatment for infectious diseases.
Key word
antimicrobial stewardship team, bacteremia, Enterobacteriaceae
Received
September 10, 2020
Accepted
April 26, 2021
Jpn. J. Chemother. 69 (4): 334-340, 2021
