1086. Antimicrobial Stewardship: From Bedside to Man’s Best Friend

Abstract

BackgroundAntimicrobial stewardship plays an integral role in ensuring appropriate antimicrobial use in the inpatient hospital setting and is now required by The Joint Commission. Although it is well established that antimicrobial misuse and overuse has societal and ecological implications, the same regulations do not yet apply to our veterinary and agricultural counterparts.MethodsAt The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (OSUWMC), the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program (ASP) was created in 2007. A partnership was formed with The Ohio State University Veterinary Medical Center (OSUVMC) in 2017 and was leveraged through a pre-existing campus-wide One Health initiative. The goal was to develop a comprehensive Veterinary Hospital ASP. “The Core Elements of Hospital Antibiotic Stewardship Programs” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and “The Core Principles of Antibiotic Stewardship in Veterinary Medicine” (American Veterinary Medical Association) were also referenced for guidance.ResultsSpecific initiatives within the OSUVMC ASP were modeled after similar interventions in the OSUWMC including development of antibiotic use guidelines by animal type for commonly encountered infections, antimicrobial utilization tracking, antibiogram creation, and both active and passive surveillance of targeted resistant pathogens. A mobile-friendly website was created to allow providers easy access to these ASP tools. Overall antimicrobial prescriptions decreased 22.4% following the first year of program implementation. Planning is currently underway for an ASP outreach program to local veterinary practices to increase awareness of ASP and improve antimicrobial prescribing. A parallel outreach program with rural Ohio hospitals is underway at OSUWMC.ConclusionA comprehensive veterinary hospital ASP was successfully implemented in collaboration with OSUWMC counterparts using successful human interventions applied in the animal setting. Optimizing antimicrobial use and resistance at both sites will likely prevent resistance transmission between these geographically proximate hospitals. Sharing the details of our approach may benefit other institutions looking to expand their stewardship reach.Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.