How Corewell Health Is Fighting Antibiotic Resistance

Nov. 22, 2024

One of the greatest achievements in medicine was the discovery of penicillin. The popular antibiotic and its derivatives are responsible for saving millions of lives from bacterial infections.

That’s the key word: bacterial.

But the over prescription of antibiotics for infections commonly caused by viruses has led to resistance to the life-saving medications.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, antimicrobial resistance is a serious and costly public health problem in the United States, with millions of people affected each year. Some statistics:

• Infections: At least 2.8 million people in the U.S. acquire antibiotic-resistant infections annually.
• Deaths: More than 35,000 people die from these infections each year.
• Cost: Treating infections caused by six common antimicrobial-resistant germs in health care costs more than $4.6 billion annually.

Enter the Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs at Corewell Health, a collaborative effort between our infectious diseases, pharmacy, clinical microbiology, infection prevention, nursing, quality, and digital services teams. Established to orchestrate safe, appropriat,e and cost-effective antimicrobial therapy to optimize patient outcomes and address the continued emergence of highly resistant microorganisms, the groups are working across the organization to promote proper use of antibiotics to help prevent the growth of antibiotic resistance.

Our main focus: Optimize and promote appropriateness of antibiotic use. Our teams of antimicrobial stewardship physicians and pharmacists are dedicated to ensuring patients are receiving the most effective and safe antimicrobial agents across all hospitals.

To do so, the physicians and pharmacists in our Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs evaluate antibiotic use on a day-by-day basis to see what’s appropriate and what’s not. We then provide recommendations and education to prescribers to optimize therapy for patients.

We also look at drug use trends on an annual basis to identify opportunities for improvement and overall impact on resistant organisms and hospital-acquired infections.

Corewell Health isn’t the only health system working to improve; it’s a statewide and national effort. Some of our initiatives are local, and some are in collaboration with other hospitals throughout the state.

It takes all of us, but together, we can fight antimicrobial resistance.

By Lama Hsaiky, PharmD, supervisor, pharmacy antimicrobial stewardship services

Paul Chittick, MD, section head, infectious disease/internal medicine, Corewell Health Medical Group East

Liam Sullivan, DO, physician, infectious disease specialist, Corewell Health Medical Group West