NEW BEDFORD – The Infectious Diseases Society of America has handed Southcoast Hospitals Group, a network of three southeastern Massachusetts hospitals, a two-year Antimicrobial Stewardship Center of Excellence designation.
The designation recognizes the hospital group – which includes St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford, Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River and Tobey Hospital in Wareham, Mass. – for both its antimicrobial use and efforts to mitigate antimicrobial resistance.
“Our team is constantly evaluating the best practices for antibiotic use and providing education to our staff, pharmacists and patients. It is critical to a patient’s overall health and wellbeing that these medications are used appropriately and only when necessary,” Dr. Ming Da Qu, an infectious disease physician at the hospitals’ parent organization Southcoast Health, said in a Sept. 1 announcement.
This is Southcoast Hospitals Group’s third time earning Antimicrobial Stewardship Center of Excellence status, having first received the designation in 2019.
This year, the Southcoast Health hospitals were three of 182 institutions given the recognition, including the Brown University Health facilities The Miriam Hospital and Rhode Island Hospital, both in Providence, according to the society’s website.
“This recognition demonstrates our commitment to ensuring our patients receive the best care, including appropriate selection, dose, frequency of administration, and duration of therapy of antibiotics,” Nita George Roy, clinical pharmacy specialist at Southcoast Health, said in the announcement. “With a comprehensive team of infectious disease specialists, we apply a multidisciplinary approach to antimicrobial stewardship across the system.”
Mica Kanner-Mascolo is a PBN staff writer. She can be reached at kannermascolo@pbn.com.
