Diagnostic Stewardship

DIAGNOSTIC STEWARDSHIP: OPPORTUNITY FOR A LABORATORY–INFECTIOUS DISEASES PARTNERSHIP

“Diagnostics are the single biggest potential game changer in the fight against AMR”
- Lord Jim O’Neill

#Diagnostic stewardship focuses on ensuring correct diagnosis of #infectious diseases while #antimicrobial stewardship aims to optimize antimicrobial treatment. Both aim to improve patient outcomes. Diagnostic stewardship involves interventions that reduce testing in patients with low pretest probability, optimize a test's likelihood ratio, and seek to warn providers when suboptimal test results might have been reported.
#Clinical microbiologists, together with the #microbiology laboratory as a whole, have a key role to play in influencing how antimicrobial agents are used. Indeed, a good prescription starts with a precise diagnosis. For infectious disease diagnosis, clinical microbiology laboratories are perhaps best positioned within their health care systems to lead these efforts, as they are not only diagnostic experts, but also directly oversee many of the tools and choices available to improve test performance and utilization. While some interventions may not fall under the direct purview of clinical microbiology laboratories, their expertise is nevertheless essential to inform these efforts, as well. Multiple stewardship strategies have been evaluated, providing laboratories with several opportunities to implement evidence-based practice changes to improve quality and outcomes. Further research is needed to continue advancing practice for well-established and emerging tests alike.

#Diagnostic stewardship #infectious diseases #antimicrobial stewardship #Clinical microbiologists #microbiology laboratory

Dr Rahul S Kamble
MBBS, MD Microbiology
Diploma Infectious Diseases (UNSW, Australia)
Infection Control course (Harvard Medical School, USA)
International Clinical Tropical Medicine course
(CMC Vellore|Haukeland university|McGill university)
International Vaccinology course (CMC Vellore)
Six Sigma Black Belt (Govt of India certified)
Auditor: JCI|NABH|NABL|CSSD|RBNQA|Texila university
PGDBA|PGDHM|PGDCR|PGDMR|PGDOM|
PGDMLS|PGDIM|PGDHI|PGDBI|PGDHA|CCDHHO
Consultant Clinical Microbiologist & Infectious Diseases
Project Lead - Antimicrobial Stewardship