Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD) announced its latest advancement in combating antimicrobial resistance (AMR) with new analytics integrated into the company's connected medication management platform that identifies when an inappropriate and potentially ineffective antibiotic has been prescribed, based on a patient's specific infection diagnosis.
Despite public transparency, heightened awareness and financial penalties, hospitals continue to struggle with the burden of healthcare associated infections (HAIs) and AMR. To help combat these challenges, BD will unveil new antimicrobial stewardship functionality within the BD HealthSight connected medication management platform at this year's American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) Midyear Meeting in Las Vegas Dec. 9-11.
There is a heightened focus on antimicrobial stewardship across the healthcare industry with new reimbursement standards released by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) requiring hospitals to comply with certain infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship requirements. Additionally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its updated "Threat Report" – noting antibiotic-resistant bacteria and fungi cause more than 2.8 million infections and 35,000 deaths in the U.S. each year.
BD HealthSight Clinical Advisor is a new functionality within the BD HealthSight platform that aggregates disparate patient data to provide clinicians with the ability to receive near real-time medication stewardship alerts within the pharmacy workflow. These actionable alerts are delivered within the connected medication management process to help healthcare providers prevent not only the administration of inappropriate antibiotics, but also the potential waste of resources associated with compounding and preparing unnecessary medication for delivery. Clinical stewardship programs are also supported through customized dashboards, robust reports and the ability to automate the submission of antimicrobial utilization data for regulatory reporting.
"BD is uniquely positioned to deliver some of the most innovative strategies to address the systemic issues associated with medication management," said Ranjeet Banerjee, worldwide president of Medication Management Solutions for BD. "We continue to develop actionable solutions to complex health issues that require a multifaceted approach, such as AMR and hospital drug diversion. Our latest advancement in antimicrobial stewardship is a fundamental example of our dedication to help healthcare workers improve patient outcomes."
"One of the key weapons in the fight against the growing problem of drug resistant bacteria is effective antimicrobial stewardship in hospitals. Using available antimicrobials appropriately is the only way to maintain their effectiveness long term and avoid collateral damage, which in turn has the ability to help reduce healthcare associated infections," said Dr. Fares Khater, system director of infectious diseases at Appalachian Regional Healthcare Corporation. "The ability to have near real-time visibility into medication stewardship alerts will enable our staff to make more informed decisions quickly that have the potential to improve patient outcomes by avoiding specific antibiotics when appropriate."
