title: Antimicrobial stewardship: another focus for patient safety?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This review describes the overlapping aspects of antimicrobial stewardship and patient-safety initiatives and justifies why stewardship belongs under the umbrella of patient safety.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Addressing the continued emergence of antibiotic resistance through the discovery of new drugs is not a sustainable strategy, particularly as antibiotics are increasingly more difficult and costly to develop. Thus, it is essential that we preserve the utility of existing antibiotics. Antimicrobial stewardship programs can assist with achieving this goal. Currently, however, the term 'antimicrobial stewardship' is generally not easily understood by regulators, hospital administrators, or the public. Perhaps more clout would be given to antimicrobial stewardship if it is associated with safety. In this review, we present concrete examples of how antimicrobial stewardship programs can focus on achieving goals already recognized as essential for patient safety.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patient safety is an integral component of antimicrobial stewardship. To make the concept of antimicrobial stewardship more palatable, the association between antimicrobial stewardship and safety needs to be emphasized.
authors.affiliation: aDivision of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA bFaculty of Medicine, National Centre for Infection Prevention and Management, Imperial College, London, UK cAssociate Director of Clinical Pharmacy Services, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Pranita D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Tamma
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Holmes
authors.forename: Elizabeth Dodds
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Ashley
mesh_terms: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D006801:Humans; D061214:Patient Safety
chemical_list: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents