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 …
January 4, 2021
by Lindsay Daniels, PharmD, MPH Antibiotics are life-saving drugs. Without them, modern advances in medicine would not be possible. Reducing unnecessary antibiotic exposure is essential to preserving the efficacy of these drugs for the future. Our goal in stewardship is to optimize therapy for patients who require antibiotics and avoid using antibiotics where they will …
December 10, 2020
by Bill Wilson, PharmD Last year, a multidisciplinary group (surgery, anesthesiology, perioperative nursing, infectious diseases, and pharmacy) came together to optimize the management and delivery of perioperative antibiotics for pediatric patients. This work group identified gaps in the overall delivery process that they are addressing to bring about positive change for patients. One gap identified …
December 6, 2020
CASP team member Emily Ciccone, MD, MHS won ASTMH award for her project “Potential use of rapid, point-of-care diagnostics to reduce antibiotic prescription rates among pediatric patients presenting with respiratory illness in southwestern Uganda.”
November 12, 2020
The Carolina Antimicrobial Stewardship Program’s 2020 Newsletter features updates on its efforts, including: Expert advice from CASP’s lead pharmacist Lindsay Daniels in Clinicians’ Corner Pediatric stewardship news from UNC Children’s Hospital’s Zach Willis and Bill Wilson How collaboration with Infection Prevention is expected to help keep C. difficile infection rates low Progress in scaling up …