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Use of Electronic Health Record Clinical Decision Support Tools in Antimicrobial Stewardship Activities

  • Antimicrobial Stewardship (A Pakyz, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Treatment Options in Infectious Diseases Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Opinion Statement

The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America and the Infectious Disease Society of America (SHEA/IDSA) released guidelines outlining the strategies of antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP) activities in 2006. These strategies have been supported by advances in technology, beginning with the novel use of clinical decision support systems (CDSS) at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, UT. This sophisticated home-grown program allowed for timely and tailored information to be exchanged between the electronic medical record (EMR) and physicians, resulting in reduced drug costs and improved patient outcomes. This CDSS technology became the basis of many third-party vendors that emerged to offer support and improve clinical and fiscal outcomes. However, third-party programs are expensive, require double documentation of interventions within the third-party platform and the EMR, and lack prescriber interaction at the time of prescribing; although they are more customizable and allow for real-time alerts between the microbiology lab and ASP team members. The advancement of the electronic health records (EHR) has expanded the capability for ASPs to use the EHR for clinical stewardship activities rather than outsource it to a third-party vendor. Epic and Cerner currently lead the market in EMR technology and are expected to continue expanding ASP functionality in their foundation systems.

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Conflict of Interest

Jordan Rush declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Michael Postelnick declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Lucas Schulz declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, 600 Highland Avenue MC-1530, Madison, WI, 53792, USA

    Jordan Rush PharmD & Lucas Schulz PharmD, BCPS, AQ-ID

  2. Northwestern Memorial Hospital, 251 E. Huron, Chicago, IL, 60611, USA

    Michael Postelnick BS Pharm, BCPS, AQ-ID

Authors
  1. Jordan Rush PharmD
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  2. Michael Postelnick BS Pharm, BCPS, AQ-ID
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  3. Lucas Schulz PharmD, BCPS, AQ-ID
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lucas Schulz PharmD, BCPS, AQ-ID.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Antimicrobial Stewardship

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Rush, J., Postelnick, M. & Schulz, L. Use of Electronic Health Record Clinical Decision Support Tools in Antimicrobial Stewardship Activities. Curr Treat Options Infect Dis 7, 90–100 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40506-015-0042-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40506-015-0042-8

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