The mission of the St. Louis Children’s Hospital Antimicrobial Stewardship Program (ASP) is to optimize antimicrobial use in children. We work with clinicians to determine when antibiotics are necessary and to help select the best antimicrobial therapy (right drug, dose, route and duration) to improve clinical outcomes and minimize antibiotic-associated adverse events and emergence of antimicrobial resistance.
Our ASP philosophy centers on the importance of communication and collaboration. We are committed to handshake stewardship, which relies on in-person direct communication with providers and teams to provide support around antimicrobial use. We also work with healthcare teams in many other capacities, including the development of multidisciplinary guidelines for the management of infections in children, education about the use of antimicrobials, and evaluation of trends in antimicrobial use and resistance.
Our ASP website provides many resources for clinicians, including antibiograms and treatment guidance documents, to help promote judicious use of antimicrobials. Recommendations provided are supported by current literature, national guidelines, and by our local epidemiology and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
