Improving Antimicrobial Stewardship in Cancer Patients Through Implementation of Clinical Guidelines

Abstract

Purpose of review Antimicrobial stewardship programs have consistently demonstrated the ability to reduce excessive antibiotic utilization, improve the management of targeted diseases, improve outcomes, and reduce costs. Implementation of institutional guidelines are effective options to promote appropriate cost-effective antimicrobial utilization and are recommended by the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cancer patients are frequent users of antimicrobials and present unique challenges for antimicrobial stewardship programs, due to high risk for infection and risk for opportunistic infection and infection with multi-drug-resistant pathogens. Thus, this review evaluates the impact of guidelines on antibiotic management and associated clinical outcomes in cancer patients. Recent findings This review demonstrates that antibiotic stewardship guidelines targeting cancer patients can improve suboptimal or delayed antimicrobial prescribing and lead to subsequent reductions in mortality and decreased length of hospitalization. Additionally, guideline implementation can reduce excessive durations of unnecessary antimicrobial therapy without adversely impacting clinical outcomes. Summary Implementation of antibiotic stewardship guidelines could be an effective tool to promote appropriate antibiotic prescribing and reduce unnecessary antibiotic utilization in cancer patients.