Kenmore Mercy, Mount St. Mary's hospitals receive Antimicrobial Stewardship Center of Excellence designation

Kenmore Mercy Hospital and Mount St. Mary’s Hospital were recently awarded the Antimicrobial Stewardship Center of Excellence designation by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. The Catholic Health hospitals are two of 145 programs worldwide to receive this prestigious recognition, which is considered the industry’s gold standard in antimicrobial stewardship.

A press release stated, “While antibiotics are essential to modern medicine and can be life-saving medications, their overuse can breed resistance and cause unwanted side effects. In fact, antibiotic-resistant infections are the third-leading-cause of death in this country.

“Kenmore Mercy Hospital and Mount St. Mary’s Hospital are taking important steps to fight antimicrobial resistance with their robust antimicrobial stewardship programs, with the goal to ensure the appropriate use of antibiotics for every patient. This includes selecting the correct antibiotic at the right dose, duration and route, which leads to targeted treatment while limiting adverse effects, better use of resources and, in most cases, decreased health care costs.”

An Antimicrobial Stewardship Center of Excellence two-year designation is given to stewardship programs led by physicians and pharmacists trained in infectious diseases who have achieved the highest standards set by the joint guidelines of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Core Elements of Hospital Antibiotic Stewardship Programs.

The press release noted, “Kenmore Mercy and Mount St. Mary’s Hospitals’ programs consist of a collaborative multidisciplinary team dedicated to ongoing staff and patient education efforts and continuous monitoring of antimicrobial use to optimize patient care.”

Sara DiTursi is the clinical pharmacy specialist in infectious diseases and site lead for antimicrobial stewardship at Kenmore Mercy Hospital. She said, “Our antimicrobial stewardship programs empower our health care providers to work together to select the right antibiotic, at the right dose, and for the right duration to continually advance the quality and safety of patient care and decrease antibiotic resistance.”

Saloni Patel, Pharm.D., stewardship site lead at Mount St. Mary’s, said, “What makes our hospitals excel is a combination of strong foundational activities, coupled with stewardship programs that few others are doing.”

Sisters of Charity Hospital and Mercy Hospital of Buffalo received their designations from the IDSA earlier this year.

“Having all our hospitals named Centers of Excellence in Antimicrobial Stewardship is a significant achievement for our system,” said Dr. Kevin Shiley, who serves as medical director of infection prevention, and leads Catholic Health’s antimicrobial stewardship program along with Benjamin Daigler, Pharm.D., from Mercy Hospital of Buffalo.

“As hospitals continue to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are reminded that antimicrobial resistance threatens our ability to treat patients each and every day,” said Barbara D. Alexander, M.D., MHS, FIDSA, president of the ISDA, which represents over 12,000 physicians, scientists and other health care professionals who specialize in infectious diseases. “Our Centers of Excellence program recognizes hospitals that exhibit the innovation and leadership needed to have an impact against antimicrobial resistance and have instituted practices for others to emulate.”