Implementation of a Post-Surgical, Multimodal Analgesia Pain Management Order Set in Opioid-Naive Patients.

Background: Perioperative pain management guidelines recommend using multimodal analgesia to improve pain control while reducing opioids administered. The primary objective of this study was to assess whether implementing multimodal analgesia on general surgery postoperative pain management order sets would reduce opioid quantities postoperatively.

Methods: Opioid-naive patients undergoing nonemergent general surgery procedures were evaluated before and after order set revision.

Effects of a Remote Antimicrobial Stewardship Program on Antimicrobial Use in a Regional Hospital System.

While antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) are well established at most large medical centers, small or rural facilities often do not have the same resources; therefore, different methods must be developed to start or expand ASPs for these hospitals. The purpose of this quality improvement study was to describe the implementation of a pharmacist-led remote ASP and assess the effect on antimicrobial use. Antimicrobial use in days of therapy per 1000 patient days (DOT/1000 PD) was compared between the six months before and after remote ASP implementation.

Evaluation of a standardized daptomycin dosing nomogram.

Purpose: Implementation of a standardized daptomycin dosing protocol in a community teaching hospital to determine potential cost savings, effectiveness, and safety is presented.

Methods: A retrospective review of randomly selected patients receiving daptomycin therapy from October 2013 to January 2014 was performed to establish a preimplementation patient control group. A specific time for preparing daptomycin in the i.

Relationship between vancomycin trough concentrations and nephrotoxicity: a prospective multicenter trial.

Several single-center studies have suggested that higher doses of vancomycin, aimed at producing trough concentrations of >15 mg/liter, are associated with increased risk of nephrotoxicity. We prospectively assessed the relative incidence of nephrotoxicity in relation to trough concentration in patients with documented methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections at seven hospitals throughout South Carolina. Adult patients receiving vancomycin for at least 72 h with at least one vancomycin trough concentration determined under steady-state conditions were prospectively studied.