Antelope Valley Hospital has been awarded the Silver Medal by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH)Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) Program’s Antimicrobial Stewardship Program Honor Roll.
The award is based on meeting a number of criteria set to measure how robust the antimicrobial stewardship efforts are. By demonstrating success in these different areas, Antelope Valley Hospital (AVH) was recognized for protecting the community from the harms of overuse of antibiotics and improving outcomes for patients being treated for infections.
The Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) Program in the California Department of Public Health Center for Health Care Quality oversees the prevention, surveillance, and reporting of HAI and antimicrobial resistance (AR) in California’s hospitals and other healthcare facilities, according to the CDPH website. Unfortunately, infections developing as a result of receiving health care services remain a public health problem. Since most healthcare-associated infections are preventable, AVH actively follows infection prevention care practices.
According to CDPH, antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASP) have been demonstrated to improve patient outcomes and reduce adverse consequences, including combating antimicrobial resistance and mitigating Clostridioides difficile infections.
“Recognized statewide, this award demonstrates our commitment to quality and safety for the patients we serve,” says Ross Bauman, Pharm.D., and executive director of Professional Services at Antelope Valley Hospital. “This is a collaborative effort among our medical professionals to improve and optimize patient care. We thank Dr. Nilesh Hingarh, Dr. Hien Truong, both Infectious Disease physicians and Deanna Quan, Infectious Disease Clinical Pharmacist Specialist, for leading our hospital’s efforts.
