Ascension Clinical Leader Represents U.S. at U.N. Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance

Recognizing Ascension as a leader in the fight against antimicrobial resistance (AMR), Ann Hendrich, PhD, RN, FAAN, Senior Vice President, Chief Quality/Safety and Nursing Officer, Ascension Healthcare, was invited by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services to serve as one of only two U.S. delegates to a recent high-level United Nations meeting.

The meeting, at the 71st U.N. General Assembly in New York, included representatives of member states, non-governmental organizations, civil society, the private sector and academic institutions.

Ann represented the U.S. during a plenary and panel discussion at the event, where HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell issued a call to action to work together to fight the threat of antimicrobial resistance to protect the health of the world. World leaders also approved a political declaration at the meeting that reaffirmed the World Health Organization's "Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance"; 193 countries signed the declaration, stating they will combat AMR.

Ascension has made swift progress in its antimicrobial stewardship efforts by implementing four strategies: 1. making antimicrobial stewardship a System priority with full leadership support; 2. creating an infrastructure to promote and disseminate best practices; 3. standardizing indications for use of the different antimicrobial classes and promoting judicious use of narrow-spectrum agents; and 4. building capacity for hospitals to achieve their goals.

This was only the fourth time in the history of the U.N. that a health topic was discussed at the General Assembly. The meeting was held to summon and maintain strong national, regional and international political commitment in addressing antimicrobial resistance comprehensively and across multiple sectors, and to increase and improve awareness of antimicrobial resistance. Drug-resistant bacteria could lead to the deaths of 10 million people a year globally by 2050 if nothing is done to resolve the issue.

Ascension saw significant reductions in systemic antibiotic use in fiscal year 2016 compared to fiscal year 2015 across the integrated ministry and has demonstrated outstanding results in measures of antimicrobial stewardship as a Hospital Engagement Network in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Partnership for Patients 2.0. For example, the defined daily dose for all systemic antibiotics has shown a 9 percent drop for the period October 2015-March 2016, compared to a baseline period of January-December 2013.

This work was led by Ann and other Ascension associates including Mohamad Fakih, MD, MPH, Senior Medical Director, Ascension Center of Antibiotic Stewardship and Infection Prevention, and Roy Guharoy, PharmD, MBA, FCCP, FASHP, Vice President, Clinical Integration and Chief Pharmacy Officer, The Resource Group.