Right specimen, right time - The importance of diagnostic stewardship

Infection Control Matters

In this episode, Martin Kiernan talks to Dr Valeria Fabre, Associate Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Associate Medical Director of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program and an Associate Hospital Epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. We discuss the recent SHEA position paper on practical aspects of diagnostic stewardship and the use of the diagnostic pathway (ie, ordering, collecting, processing, reporting, and interpreting results of a diagnostic test).

Paper discussed:

Fabre V, et al. Principles of diagnostic stewardship: A practical guide from the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America Diagnostic Stewardship Task Force. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2023;44(2):178-185. https://doi:10.1017/ice.2023.5

Other recent papers on this subject:

1. Warren BG, et al. Evaluation of hospital blood culture utilization rates to identify opportunities for diagnostic stewardship. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2023;44(2):200-205. https://doi:10.1017/ice.2022.191
2. Shallal AB, et al. Role of diagnostic stewardship in reducing healthcare-facility-onset Clostridioides difficile infections. Antimicrob Steward Healthc Epidemiol. 2023;3(1):e53. https://doi:10.1017/ash.2022.305
3. Morgan DJ, et al. Diagnostic Stewardship to Prevent Diagnostic Error. JAMA. 2023. https://doi:10.1001/jama.2023.1678
4. Chiotos K, et al. Mixed-methods process evaluation of a respiratory-culture diagnostic stewardship intervention. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2023;44(2):191-199. https://doi:10.1017/ice.2022.299
5. Advani SD, et al. Optimizing reflex urine cultures: Using a population-specific approach to diagnostic stewardship. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2023;44(2):206-209. https://doi:10.1017/ice.2022.315