November 22, 2021
During U.S. Antibiotic Awareness Week and throughout the year, CDC promotes Be Antibiotics Aware, an educational effort to raise awareness about the importance of safe antibiotic prescribing and use. The Be Antibiotics Aware initiative provides resources to help improve antibiotic prescribing among healthcare professionals and use among consumers. CDC’s Be Antibiotics Aware educational effort encourages …
November 17, 2021
More than half of all patients receive at least one antimicrobial agent during their hospital stay. At the Medical Center as with other facilities, patients sometimes receive treatment that is longer than needed for common infections. Reducing unnecessary antimicrobial exposure is essential to preserving the efficacy of these drugs for the future. Carolina Antimicrobial Stewardship …
October 26, 2021
Melissa Miller, PhD, is an inaugural CASP member and the director of the clinical microbiology laboratory at the UNC Medical Center.
October 12, 2021
A quality improvement effort led by CASP’s Bill Wilson, PharmD, was recognized by UNC Medical Center Improvement Council’s Quality and Safety Awards with an honorable mention for their work to prevent surgical site infections in the Children’s Hospital Operating Room. “In the past, many patients did not have orders for perioperative antibiotics placed until they …
October 7, 2021
Since 2018, UNC Medical Center Infection Prevention has bestowed Friends of Epidemiology awards to honor exceptional UNC Health Care employees in other departments. Awardees are outstanding in their work for their department and integral to the success of Infection Prevention. Each year, Carolina Antimicrobial Stewardship Program team members have been among those recognized. At the …
September 27, 2021
Imagine: You have a patient with a penicillin allergy documented in their chart. Typically, you would prescribe amoxicillin for their infection, but that is not an option because it is a penicillin-class antibiotic. Instead, you prescribe a broader-spectrum antibiotic–not your first choice except for the allergy. But, what if you learned that it is not …
September 7, 2021
When a pediatric community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) guideline went into effect earlier this year, it got little use. That was fine by the team that developed it, led by pediatric pharmacist Bill Wilson and pediatrician Zach Willis, both with the Carolina Antimicrobial Stewardship Program. It meant that very few children needed to be hospitalized for pneumonia. …
June 15, 2021
Antimicrobial resistance is a major global public health threat, and growing evidence suggests that antimicrobial-resistant infections are becoming increasingly common in children. Early selection of appropriate antimicrobial therapy can improve clinical outcomes and decrease exposure to unnecessary antimicrobials. For this reason, the 2016 Infectious Diseases Society of America guidelines for implementing an antimicrobial stewardship program …
March 30, 2021
An estimated 10% of the US population reports having an allergic reaction to a penicillin-class antibiotic. However, when evaluated, fewer than 1% are truly allergic. Broad-spectrum antibiotics are a common alternative to penicillins and are associated with more side effects, higher healthcare costs, and antimicrobial resistance. When a patient’s allergy is removed from their medical …
March 10, 2021
For the past several years, pediatric pharmacist Bill Wilson, PharmD, of UNC Children’s Hospital has worked to ensure that children sick with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) get the best available treatment. Pneumonia is a top cause of child deaths globally, and, in the US, the majority of children hospitalized for it are under five years of …
February 18, 2021
One in ten Americans believes they are allergic to penicillin. However, when assessed, the vast majority of these may not be allergic at all and can safely use penicillin antibiotics—which includes penicillin, amoxicillin, Augmentin, ampicillin, and Zosyn, among others–to treat some infections. There are two main reasons for this. First, some childhood rashes – not …
February 4, 2021
In January, the UNC Medical Center’s Anti-infectives Sub-committee approved a new Clostridioides difficile, or C. difficile, infection guideline to provide evidence-based best practices for diagnosis and management of the disease. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that CDI sickens an estimated 462,000 people in the US, leading to some 15,000 deaths each …