Role of a Pharmacist in AST Activity and Pharmaceutical Education in a Mid-sized Japanese Community Hospital

Abstract

At small or mid-sized medical institutions, such as Japanese community hospitals, adequate infectious disease physicians (IDP) are lacking, mainly due to shortages of full-time pharmacists and IDPs who support antimicrobial stewardship team (AST) activities. With our hospital AST, we developed a multidisciplinary approach based on the interim reports of culture results or detected resistant bacteria for physicians, which are written by pharmacists and clinical laboratory technicians. At the AST conference, a pharmacist works as a chairman and reviews abstracts of cases which need to be discussed. We performed a retrospective analysis of the process and outcome of AST implementation, and introduced the use of reduction data for our hospital, obtained from Japan Surveillance for Infection Prevention and Healthcare Epidemiology (J-SIPHE). This program is important for pharmacists to promote the diagnostic process and comprehensive judgment necessary for bedside practice with infectious disease cases. We offer opportunities for pharmacy students to participate in the AST conference to learn how pharmacists consult with doctors about diagnosis and treatment. At present, the cooperation between AS and diagnostic stewardship (DS) has been emphasized, and improvements in a pharmacist's overall judgment regarding infectious disease cases are required to appropriate antimicrobial use. In addition, improving communication skills is essential for building a multidisciplinary approach. Regardless of the size of the facility, the role of pharmacists in AST should be implemented for the guidance of pharmacy students, which will help develop and secure future human resources at the facility.