The Norton Healthcare electronic antimicrobial stewardship program: An opt-out approach to antimicrobial stewardship

To describe the Norton Healthcare electronic antimicrobial stewardship program (E-ASP), a novel prospective audit and feedback approach that leverages the electronic medical record to overcome efficiency barriers. Additionally, to describe an accompanying opt-out antimicrobial stewardship approach that addresses provider nonresponsiveness.

Prospective audit and feedback is recommended by antimicrobial stewardship guidelines; however, execution can be difficult due to labor requirements, delays in communication, and provider nonparticipation. The Norton E-ASP was developed to address these issues by reliably identifying target patients, documenting assessments, streamlining recommendation delivery, promoting handoff, and providing automated tracking of recommendation responses. Opt-out stewardship allows recommendations to be implemented if not rejected after 24 hours.

A 25% reduction in target antimicrobial use has been achieved and sustained with the program. Use of the Norton E-ASP, including opt-out antimicrobial stewardship, broadened the reach and furthered the impact of infectious diseases pharmacists. Successes of this program justified addition of 3 full-time infectious diseases pharmacist positions at a large community health system. This strategy may serve as a model for tele-antimicrobial stewardship or other pharmacy recommendations.