Mather Hospital honored for Antimicrobial Stewardship

Mather Hospital has been named a Center of Excellence by the Infectious Diseases Society of America in recognition of our Antimicrobial Stewardship Program, which optimizes antimicrobial use while combating antimicrobial resistance. Congratulations to the Antimicrobial Stewardship Committee, the infectious disease physicians and the Pharmacy team.

“The program measures and promotes the appropriate usage of antimicrobials by selecting the appropriate agent, dose, duration and route of administration in order to improve patient outcomes while minimizing adverse drug events and the emergence of antimicrobial resistance,” said Pharmacy Director Olga Larios, RPh, MS. “Effective monitoring and provider education are two of the most important tools used to achieve the best possible outcomes. The program is also associated with a decrease in antimicrobial agent costs.”

“This has been a true team effort from administration to pharmacy to hospital medicine and our infectious disease group,” said infection disease physician and team member Philip Nizza, DO. “I am proud of our collaboration and the effect it has had on our hospital from reducing inappropriate antibiotic use and improving patient care.

“I am lucky to work alongside such a talented and dedicated group of people. I would especially like to recognize the hard work of Maricelle Monteagudo-Chu – our PharmD who works tirelessly to make this program function“

In 2017, the team members were honored by the hospital with the Capstone Award for its efforts to educate the hospital about the appropriate use of antibiotics. The program began in 2015.

Congratulations to team members:

Philip Nizza, DO

David Galinkin, DO

Arthur Klein, MD

Jonathan Krohn, MD

Nardeen Mickail, MD

Maricelle Monteagudo-Chu, PharmD, BCIDP, BSPS-AQID