The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has required healthcare systems and hospitals to rapidly modify standard practice, including antimicrobial stewardship services. Our study examines the impact of COVID-19 on the antimicrobial stewardship pharmacist.

A survey was distributed nationally to all healthcare improvement company members.

Pharmacist participants were mostly leaders of antimicrobial stewardship programs distributed evenly across the United States and representing urban, suburban, and rural health-system practice sites.

Participants reported relative increases in time spent completing tasks related to medication access and preauthorization (300%; P = .018) and administrative meeting time (34%; P = .067) during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to before the pandemic. Time spent rounding, making interventions, performing pharmacokinetic services, and medication reconciliation decreased.

A shift away from clinical activities may negatively affect the utilization of antimicrobials.

Evaluate the difference in antibiotic prescribing between various levels of resident training or attending types.

Observational, retrospective study.

Tertiary-care, academic medical center in Madison, Wisconsin.

We measured antibiotic utilization from January 1, 2016, through December 31, 2018, in our general medicine (GM) and hospitalist services. The GM1 service is staffed by outpatient internal medicine physicians, the GM2 service is staffed by geriatricians and hospitalists, and the GM3 service is staffed by only hospitalists. The GMA service is led by junior resident physicians, and the GMB service is led by senior resident physicians. We measured utilization using days of therapy (DOT) per 1,000 patient days (PD). In a secondary analysis based on antibiotic spectrum, we used average DOT per 1,000 PD.

Teaching services prescribed more antibiotics than nonteaching services (671.6 vs 575.2 DOT per 1,000 PD; P < .0001). Junior resident–led services used more antibiotics than senior resident–led services (740.9 vs 510.0 DOT per 1,000 PD; P < .0001). Overall, antibiotic prescribing was numerically similar between various attending physician backgrounds. A secondary analysis showed that GM services prescribed more broad-spectrum, anti-MRSA, and anti-pseudomonal antibiotics than the hospitalist services. GM junior resident–led services prescribed more broad-spectrum, anti-MRSA, and antipseudomonal therapy compared to their senior counterparts.

Antibiotics were prescribed at a significantly higher rate in services associated with trainees than those without. Services led by a junior resident physician prescribed antibiotics at a significantly higher rate than services led by a senior resident. Interventions to reduce unnecessary antibiotic exposure should be targeted toward resident physicians, especially junior trainees.

To identify themes associated with patient perceptions of antibiotic use and the role of patients in inpatient antimicrobial stewardship.

We conducted semi-structured interviews with 30 hospitalized patients using the Health Belief Model as the framework for questions and analysis.

An academic tertiary care hospital in Madison, Wisconsin.

A total of 30 general medicine inpatients receiving at least 1 anti-infective medication were interviewed.

Participants recognized antibiotic resistance as a serious public health threat but expressed low perceived susceptibility to being personally affected by antibiotic resistance. Views of susceptibility were influenced by a high degree of trust in physicians and misperceptions regarding the mechanisms underlying resistance. Participants expressed high self-efficacy and a desire to be involved in their health care. Perceived roles for patients in preventing the inappropriate use of antibiotics ranged from asking questions and speaking up about concerns to active involvement in decision making regarding antibiotic treatments. Few participants reported being offered the opportunity to engage in such shared decision making while hospitalized.

Our findings suggest an important role for patients in improving antibiotic use in hospitals. However, patient engagement has not been recognized as a critical component of antimicrobial stewardship programs. Our study suggests that the likelihood of patient engagement in stewardship practices is currently limited by low perceived susceptibility and lack of cues to act. Further investigation into how patients may be engaged as good stewards of antibiotics may reveal new ways to improve antibiotic prescribing practices in the inpatient setting.

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2016;37:576–582