Appropriate use of antimicrobials in health care continues to be a challenge. Reliable and reproducible antimicrobial susceptibility testing methods are necessary to provide the clinician with valuable information that can be translated into positive clinical outcomes at the bedside. However, there are nuances with these testing methods that, if unrecognized, could lead to misinterpretation of results and inappropriate antibiotic selection. This primer describes the common antimicrobial susceptibility tests used in the clinical microbiology laboratory and reviews how subtle differences in testing methods and technique can influence reported results. Clinicians who have a thorough understanding of qualitative and quantitative methods, automated susceptibility testing systems, and commonly used screening and confirmatory tests for antibiotic-resistant organisms can strengthen institutional antibiotic stewardship programs and improve patient outcomes.

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Increasingly, demands are placed on healthcare systems to meet antimicrobial stewardship standards and reporting requirements. This trend, combined with reduced financial and personnel resources, has created a need to adopt information technology (IT) to help ease these burdens and facilitate action. The incorporation of IT into an antimicrobial stewardship program can help improve stewardship intervention efficiencies and facilitate the tracking and reporting of key metrics, including outcomes. This paper provides a review of the stewardship-related functionality within these IT systems, describes how these platforms can be used to improve antimicrobial use, and identifies how they can support current and potential future antimicrobial stewardship regulatory and accreditation standards. Finally, recommendations to help close the gaps in existing systems are provided and suggestions for future areas of development within these programs are delineated.

Rapid diagnostic technologies (RDTs) significantly reduce organism identification time and can augment antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP) activities. An electronic survey quantified familiarity with and utilization of RDTs by clinical pharmacists participating in ASPs. Familiarity was highest with polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Formal infectious diseases training was the only significant factor influencing RDT familiarity. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2017;38:863-866.

Abstract In a study of 121 hospitals from 38 US states, 44% had access to an allergist for inpatient consultations and 39% had access to inpatient penicillin skin testing, indicating that the majority of US hospitals lack sufficient resources to address inpatient penicillin allergies.