The Georgia Department of Public Health in association with the Georgia Healthcare Associated Infections Advisory Committee, has awarded South Georgia Medical Center with membership in the Georgia Honor Roll for Antibiotic Stewardship for Acute Care Hospitals.

The antibiotic stewardship initiative is a collaborative effort between hospital leadership, affiliated physicians, hospital pharmacist and patients to ensure optimal antibiotic prescribing and appropriate use. It is widely known that antibiotics save lives.  Prescribing practices are important to assist with preventing allergic reactions, super-resistant infections and minimizing toxicity and other adverse events including infectious diarrhea. Prescribing decisions must be evaluated as patients’ needs change to prevent antibiotic resistance, making these drugs less likely to work in the future.

At SGMC, Physician Leader Roberto Garcia, MD; Pharmacists Cindy Vickery, RPh and Todd Woodard, PharmD; and the Infection Prevention and Control team are working to further support the antibiotic stewardship program. The healthcare team will continue to work together to ensure patients receive the appropriate medication and dose to improve patient outcomes.  Antibiotic resistance is a pressing health issue in the world today. CDC estimates that each year at least 2 million illnesses and 23,000 deaths are caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria in the US alone.  The antibiotic stewardship team will work to continuously educate and monitor antibiotic use in order to provide optimal care to patients and help reduce the incidents of antibiotic misuse.

“Antibiotics have transformed the delivery of medical care and saved countless lives,” said Randy Sauls, CEO.  “However, excess prescribing of antibiotics has contributed to the growing problem of antibiotic resistance. SGMC is committed to this progressive approach to address antibiotic stewardship and pleased to participate in the Georgia Honor Roll program.”