VCU Health CMH’s Antibiotic Stewardship Team

Top Row: Sandra Agostinello, RN (Brunswick); April Dyer, liaison, clinical pharmacist Duke Antimicrobial Stewardship Outreach Network (Durham, NC); Terri Pennell, lab supervisor (Lunenburg).

Bottom Row: Gayle Sutton, RN, BSN, CIC (Mecklenburg), Teresa Griles, RN, BSN, educator (Charlotte County, VA), Kathy Sims, staff pharmacist (Mecklenburg)

VCU Health Community Memorial Hospital (VCU Health CMH) earned Gold Status for the Virginia Antibiotic Stewardship Honor Roll Program. This means the hospital meets specific criteria in the education and appropriate use of antibiotics. Typically, the more antibiotics a person is prescribed, the less effective they are in treating illness. An interdisciplinary team established interventions to limit and track antibiotic use. Patients can expect to only be prescribed medication that is needed to keep them healthy.

April Dyer, Pharm.D., MBA, resides in Durham, North Carolina. She is a clinical pharmacist at Duke University Medical Center and the liaison from D.A.S.O.N. (Duke Antimicrobial Stewardship Outreach Network) and has been a huge help in keeping the hospital up to date in antimicrobial stewardship. “Through VCU Health CMH’s stewardship interventions, they decreased overall antibiotic use 8.9% from 2018 to 2019.  During the same period, they noted decreases of MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) cases by 14.73%,” she explained.

Pharmacist Kathy Sims, RPh., lives in Mecklenburg County. She said, “At its core, antibiotic stewardship is a patient safety initiative that improves the quality of care we provide for patients at VCU Health CMH. We are honored that the Virginia Department of Health recognizes our antibiotic stewardship program as meeting this goal. This achievement would not be possible without the hard work of our antibiotic stewardship team.”  

CEO Scott Burnette recognized the outstanding work of the team in a hospital-wide virtual meeting, “This is a great honor that reinforces VCU Health CMH’s dedication to patient safety on a daily basis,” he said.

Ray Hayes, CPhT, mixes medication into IV bags in the clean room hood. Mr. Hayes has worked at VCU Health CMH for seven years and resides in Boydton.

Ray Hayes, CPhT, puts the medication in the two-sided refrigerator for later use.

Stacey Preddy, Pharm.D, removes medication from the fridge for use in a patient room. Stacey lives in Palmer Springs and has been employed at VCU Health CMH for 14 years.

Ashley Acree, CPhT, loads medications into the tube system for delivery to a nursing station. Ashley lives in Emporia and has worked at VCU Health CMH for a few months.

VCU Health CMH earned Gold Status with the Virginia Antibiotic Stewardship Honor Roll for appropriate antibiotic use.