Vermont Oxford Network (VON) has awarded a “Center of Excellence in Education and Training for Antibiotic Stewardship in Newborn Care” designation to Piedmont Henry Hospital.

Antibiotic misuse and overuse are some of the healthcare community’s top concerns. Antibiotic misuse in the perinatal period can alter an infant’s microbiome for their entire life and decrease the effectiveness of antibiotics for the whole population. Piedmont Henry enrolled in Choosing Antibiotics Wisely, an international quality improvement collaborative developed by Vermont Oxford Network in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to address the overuse and misuse of antibiotics in newborn care. The award recognizes that at least 85 percent of the multidisciplinary care team participating in the improvement collaborative completed the educational bundle and submitted an abstract of improvement work to the VON Annual Quality Congress.

  “Our team at Piedmont Henry joined more than 180 other teams from newborn nurseries, birth centers, and neonatal intensive care units in 38 states and seven countries to employ proven quality improvement methods to implement processes, procedures and tools aimed at using antibiotics more responsibly,” said Paula Butts, Chief Nursing Officer at Piedmont Henry. “The goal was to rapidly screen, identify, and treat infants who benefit from antibiotics while decreasing the antibiotic utilization rate for infants who did not need them.”

  The team at Piedmont Henry participated in a series of live webinars, developed structured improvement programs, audited their local practice outcomes and benchmarked with others.

  “Congratulations to the entire team at Piedmont Henry Hospital on this impressive accomplishment and for demonstrating sustained commitment to antibiotic stewardship,” said Jeffrey Horbar, MD, chief executive and scientific officer of VON.

  Learn more about maternity services at Piedmont Henry by visiting, piedmont.org/maternity-services.