Associations between antimicrobial stewardship program elements and Clostridium difficile infection performance

Abstract

Hospitals are categorized as better, no different, or worse at a national level based on their Clostridium difficile infection performance. Institutional antimicrobial stewardship programs seek to decrease the occurrence of C difficile by implementing strategies to address antibiotic usage; however, optimal structure and strategies for accomplishing this remain largely unknown. We found that a higher proportion of hospitals with either a worse or no different rank used a postprescription audit and feedback strategy than hospitals with a better rank.

Keywords: Antimicrobial stewardship; Clostridium difficile; Prospective audit; Review and Preauthorization; Standardized infection ratio.