CCME Endorses Cumulative Statewide Antibiogram Project

Columbia, SC —The Carolinas Center for Medical Excellence (CCME) has recently endorsed the South Carolina Antibiogram Project, which was created to evaluate trends in antibiotic resistance across the state. This new study is being conducted by an investigator at the South Carolina College of Pharmacy, University of South Carolina.

In addition to creating awareness of resistance, the program will focus on evaluating the trends in antibiotic susceptibility. This work will generate a greater understanding of antibiotic resistance problems throughout South Carolina and assist health care agencies, organizations, and local facilities with observation and antimicrobial stewardship efforts.

This project directly aligns with CCME’s current work through a contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to reduce health care-associated infections (HAIs) in hospitals, particularly through a C. difficile infection (CDI) prevention initiative. Similar to the antibiogram project, the CDI initiative encourages participants to network with other collaborative participants and to launch antimicrobial stewardships.

“The antibiogram project is the perfect complement to our work,” said Kimberly Oliger, MBA, MSN, RN, care improvement specialist at CCME. “It opens the door for sharing best practices and findings and pooling resources to improve the health of patients throughout the state.”

Project investigators plan to collect and analyze antibiogram data for the past five years (2007-2011) from all acute care facilities in South Carolina in order to create regional and statewide antibiograms, and to provide a comparison of receptiveness from each organization.

In addition to CCME, other health agencies within South Carolina are supporting this statewide effort, including the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, the South Carolina Alliance for Infection Prevention, Health Sciences of South Carolina, the South Carolina Hospital Association, and the South Carolina Society of Health-System Pharmacists. To learn more, please visit  http://scantibiogramproject.net.

###

This material is distributed by The Carolinas Center for Medical Excellence, the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for South Carolina, under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 10SOW-SC-C7-12-85

Return to News Headlines