Antibiotic Stewardship Program Awarded PCORI Grant

Recently, Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) was awarded $1 million in funding from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to expand the research done through the Outpatient Pediatric Antimicrobial Stewardship.

The PCORI-funded implementation project seeks to reduce antibiotic prescribing for acute respiratory tract infections by 5% overall, while also fostering use of narrow-spectrum antibiotics and shorter courses of treatment and reducing excess testing for strep throat infections. 

The project will take place at several VHAN member clinics, including VUMC-affiliated outpatient pediatric primary care clinics, urgent care clinics (walk-in and pediatric after-hours clinics), retail health clinics (Vanderbilt clinics at Walgreens), emergency departments, and Heritage Medical Clinic. Across the 52 sites, the intervention will engage 376 front-line care delivery staff and will reach an estimated 103,000 patients. 

Interventions will include evidence-based implementation strategies such as distributing patient/caregiver education handouts, offering provider education through lectures and app-based quizzes, and providing audit and feedback reports with peer comparison on antibiotic use, antibiotic duration and treatment failure rates. 

“This is an incredible opportunity for VHAN practices to connect to national antimicrobial stewardship experts and to develop their own stewardship reporting and feedback processes,” says Erin Neal, PharmD, director of medication management at VHAN. “We look forward to collaborating with Heritage Medical Group, and sharing learnings and resources with all of our VHAN practices to improve the use of antibiotics across the network.”

To learn more about the grant, check out this article. VHAN members who are interested in learning more about antibiotic stewardship initiatives in the network can access tools and resources here.