March 21, 2022
Nominate a Super Antimicrobial Steward
Super Steward Awards recognize colleagues’ meaningful contributions to support the appropriate and effective use of antimicrobials at UNC Medical Center.
Category: Infection Prevention
November 29, 2021
DCRI, UNC CHER, and Partners Launch Free Testing Project to Slow the Spread of COVID-19
The Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI), Center for Health Equity Research at UNC-Chapel Hill (UNC-CHER), and Community-Campus Partnerships for Health (CCPH) today announced plans to deliver their You & Me COVID-Free testing project in Merced County, Calif., in partnership with United Way.
November 18, 2021
Shortest Effective Durations of Antimicrobial Therapy focus of UNC Medical Center’s observance of World Antimicrobials Awareness Week
Patients sometimes receive treatment that is longer than needed for common infections. Evidence-based best practices can help reduce unnecessary antimicrobial exposure and reduce potential patient risk.
November 18, 2021
Progress in Fight Against Surgical Site Infections at UNC Children’s Hospital
A quality improvement effort led by CASP’s Bill Wilson, PharmD, was recognized by UNC Medical Center Improvement Council’s Quality and Safety Awards with an honorable mention for their work to prevent surgical site infections in the Children’s Hospital Operating Room.
November 9, 2021
UNC Rex Cardiologist Takes Kids To Get Vaccinated
UNC Rex Cardiologist Christopher Kelly, MS, MD, RPVI, CBCCT, takes his children to get vaccinated at UNC Family Medicine at Panther Creek in Cary.
October 7, 2021
Penicillin allergy assessments expand to UNCMC inpatient areas
You have a patient with a penicillin allergy documented in their chart. Typically, you would prescribe amoxicillin for their infection, but that is not an option because it is a penicillin-class antibiotic. Instead, you prescribe a broader-spectrum antibiotic–not your first choice except for the allergy. But, what if you learned that it is not a true allergy?
September 28, 2021
Plasmodium Falciparum Evolving to Escape Malaria Rapid Diagnostics in Africa
UNC School of Medicine, the World Health Organization, and the Ethiopian Public Health Institute conducted a joint study to find that malaria parasites are spreading undetected across the Horn of Africa, posing a major health threat to the region. Lead UNC lead investigator Jonathan Parr, MD, MPH, is senior author of this Nature Microbiology paper.
September 1, 2021
2021 IHQI Improvement Scholars Symposium
Register for our annual IHQI Symposium to celebrate the hard work and success of our Improvement Scholars. The Symposium will feature presentations from six clinician-led improvement initiatives.
March 30, 2021
Penicillin Allergy Assessment Tool Kit Released to Improve Antibiotic Stewardship
The tool kit was developed by Mildred Kwan, MD, PhD, and Renae Boerneke, PharmD, to educate patients and train healthcare providers to proactively assess penicillin allergies. Delabeling patients who are not truly allergic to penicillins is an important stewardship tool that decreases unnecessary use of broad-spectrum antibiotics.
January 7, 2021
Five Tips for Prescribers of Antibiotics
Everyone can be an antimicrobial steward. Here are a few ways healthcare professionals can put antimicrobial stewardship principles into practice.
January 6, 2021
UNC Children’s Recognized for Dramatic Improvements in Sepsis Outcomes
At the Improving Pediatric Sepsis Outcomes (IPSO) National Workshop, December 10-11, 2020, UNC Children’s Hospital was recognized for demonstrating important improvements in outcomes for key sepsis measures.
December 9, 2020
Strategies for optimizing antimicrobials featured in Antimicrobial Stewardship Newsletter
The Carolina Antimicrobial Stewardship Program’s latest newsletter features expert advice from CASP’s lead pharmacist Lindsay Daniels in Clinicians’ Corner, pediatric stewardship news from UNC Children’s Hospital’s Zach Willis and Bill Wilson, how collaboration with Infection Prevention is expected to help keep C. difficile infection rates low, and plans to scale up Antibiotic Time-outs across UNC Hospitals.