Unmasking the Confusion of Multidrug Resistant Organisms: A Collaborative Approach

Session Description: Infection Preventionists (IP) may struggle with interpretation of microbiology susceptibility reports and defining multidrug resistant organisms (MDRO). This knowledge gap could lead to over or under reporting of epidemiologically significant MDROs, thus, negatively impacting control efforts and healthcare resource utilization. The IP benefits from the ability to identify, understand, and integrate MDRO evidence-based guidance, regulations, accreditation requirements, and individual health system needs when developing an effective MDRO control plan.
This presentation will be delivered by an Antimicrobial Stewardship Pharmacist and Infectious Diseases Advance Practice Provider, and suitable for all IP career stages. Sequential case examples will be utilized to actively engage participants and build on the IP’s MDRO knowledge. Specific content will review different antibiotic classes, mechanisms of resistance, interpretation of susceptibility reports, multidrug resistant guidelines and MDRO reduction strategies. The speakers will identify various professional practice resources and references across the literature from organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Clinical & Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI), and World Health Organization (WHO). The role of state MDRO regulations and facility specific epidemiology will also be discussed. The presenters will then describe how this information, through collaboration with multidisciplinary teams, can be utilized to develop and implement facility specific MDRO definition, policies, and control measures. Challenges and barriers will be described based on presenters’ real-world experience, concluding with a few antimicrobial stewardship pearls to further highlight key objectives of the presentation. Opportunities for audience participation will be provided through the use of text polling. An “IP resource for interpreting antibiotic drug classes for multidrug resistant organisms (MDRO) identification” handout, created by the presenters, will also be provided.