No abstract

BackgroundAntibiotic Stewardship (ASP) standards for hospitals became effective January 1, 2017. Core Elements implementation guidelines have been challenging for rural hospitals usually lacking on-site expertise. Our 170-bed Community Hospital / rural referral center has dedicated resources for on-site ASP. Our team includes on-site Infectious Disease (ID) Specialist and dedicated ASP pharmacist. Over first 2 years, our model shows very high provider acceptance, improvement in antimicrobial use pattern and reduction in the number of Clostridioides difficile infections (CDI).MethodsThe ASP Pharmacist conducted a daily review of ASP targets. He met with on-site ID Physician 3 days weekly to discuss interventions and review complex cases. The ASP team - ID Medical Director, ASP Pharmacist, Microbiologist, Invention Preventionist and Hospitalist met monthly to discuss outcomes and facility-wide interventions.ASP audit included: positive cultures, patients on multiple or broad-spectrum antimicrobials, patients receiving dual nephrotoxic drugs, carbapenems, fluoroquinolones, candidates for IV to PO conversionThe audit results were communicated in-person to attending physician and documented in electronic medical record.ResultsASP team recommendations were accepted in 94% of casesID consult was recommended in 4.69% and was accepted 100%. Top 20 IV antimicrobial use decreased by 10%. Fluoroquinolones (29%) and carbapenems (28%) showed highest decrease. Cephalosporins showed small increase. Hospital-acquired CDI rate decreased from 0.83 cases/ 1000 patient-days (PD) pre-ASP to 0.53 cases/ 1000 PD post-ASP. General CDI diagnosis decreased from 3.21 cases/1000 PD pre-ASAP to 2.23 cases/ 1000 PD post-ASPConclusionAn on-site, ID Specialist reviewed and dedicated ASP Pharmacist driven program at a rural referral center/ Community Hospital significantly improved antibiotic use and decreased Clostridium Difficile Infections in the first 2 years. Direct feedback of ASP review to providers resulted in an excellent acceptance rate. On-site ID and ASP Pharmacist collaboration is logistically difficult to achieve but expanding our model to rural referral centers should be considered. More research is needed to determine the cost-effectiveness of onsite, dual led programs. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.