St. Tammany Parish Hospital has been named a Center of Excellence for Antimicrobial Stewardship by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA).
St. Tammany Parish Hospital is one of only 64 programs nationwide to earn IDSA Center of Excellence (CoE) since the program’s launch in 2017. The program recognizes institutions that have created stewardship programs led by infectious diseases physicians and ID-trained pharmacists that are of the highest quality and have achieved standards aligned with evidence-based national guidelines such as the IDSA-SHEA guidelines and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Core Elements.
“Antimicrobial resistance is one of the greatest threats facing healthcare on a global, national, and individual level. In fact, antibiotic-resistant infections are the third leading cause of death in this country. IDSA is fighting antimicrobial resistance on every front, including research, education, training, and through our policy efforts. IDSA is proud to partner with St. Tammany Parish Hospital and others that have received the Centers of Excellence designation in turning the tide against antimicrobial resistance,” said IDSA President Cynthia Sears, MD, FIDSA.
The core criteria for the CoE program place emphasis on an institution’s ability to implement stewardship protocols to optimize the treatment of infections and reduce adverse events associated with antibiotic use by leveraging electronic health record systems and providing ongoing education to help clinicians improve the quality of patient care and promote patient safety. A panel of esteemed IDSA member leaders evaluate CoE applications against core criteria to make recommendations for the designation. The panel is comprised of five ID-trained physicians and three ID-trained pharmacists with many years of expert stewardship experience.