The Antimicrobial Stewardship Program (ASP) at Stony Brook Medicine and Stony Brook Children’s Hospital promotes the appropriate and optimal use of antimicrobial agents to maximize their therapeutic impact and minimize the emergence of resistance and toxicity. The ASP is focused on helping clinicians improve the quality of patient care at Stony Brook.
We are involved in the following:
- Monitoring antimicrobial use for the appropriateness of selection, dosing, route of administration, and duration of therapy
- Assisting clinicians regarding the appropriate and optimal use of antimicrobials for their patients
- Developing institutional treatment guidelines for commonly encountered infectious diseases at Stony Brook
- Educating providers at Stony Brook and in Suffolk County
Antibiotics are unique amongst pharmaceuticals in that their use impacts not just the patient but others around them. The use of antibiotics have saved countless lives and have contributed to major medical advances such as advanced surgeries that would have been limited by the complication of infection. While the benefits of antimicrobials are without question, we must also recognize the risk associated with these medications and with their inappropriate use.
An estimated 20-50% of all antimicrobials prescribed in in both inpatient and outpatient settings are either unnecessary or inappropriate. Inappropriate antimicrobial use, including longer than needed therapies, the use of drugs that do not target the causal pathogen, and suboptimal dosing, has been linked to higher antibiotic resistance rates, longer duration of hospitalization, increased costs, adverse drug events, and Clostridium difficile colitis. The problem of emerging resistance is compounded by the paucity of new antimicrobials on the market, particularly agents with novel mechanisms of action. Improving the use of antibiotics is an important public health and safety issue.
