Intravenous Immune Globulin Stewardship Program at a Tertiary Academic Medical Center

In October 2010, a pharmacist-driven stewardship program was implemented at the Brigham and Women's Hospital to ensure continued adherence to the prescribing guideline, focusing on indications for intravenous immune globulin (IVIG) use and dosing per ideal body weight.

The primary objective was to describe an IVIG stewardship program at a tertiary academic medical center.

This was a prospective, observational study from January 2013 through December 2014. All patients ordered to receive IVIG during the defined study period were included. The intervention assessed describes a pharmacist-driven IVIG stewardship program for medication approval. The primary end point was guideline compliance based on indication, dose, dosing weight, and frequency. Secondary end points included the number of patients receiving IVIG, indications, orders discontinued as a result of guideline nonadherence, and total amount dispensed.

A total of 418 patients were identified during the study time frame. The top indications were: hypogammaglobulinemia in bone marrow transplantation and hematological malignancy (50.7%), acute solid organ rejection (11.8%), and immune thrombocytopenia with bleeding (10.1%). In all, 12 patients (2.9%) received IVIG for an indication nonadherent with the IVIG prescribing guideline; 9 patients (2.2%) and 2 patients (0.5%), respectively, received a different dose or frequency per the prescribed indication; and 12 orders (2.9%) for indications nonadherent to the guideline were discontinued. A total of 26 033 g of IVIG were dispensed during the study period.

An IVIG stewardship program, including an institution-specific prescribing guideline and a pharmacist-driven stewardship program, may ensure guideline compliance for appropriateness of indication and dose at an academic medical center.