Geographic Medicine and Infectious Diseases

Antimicrobial stewardship for improvements in patient care

The Antimicrobial Management Team (AMT) at Tufts Medical Center is staffed by staff from the Division of Geographic Medicine and Infectious Diseases, including Shira Doron, MD and infectious diseases-trained pharmacists Maureen Campion, Gabriela Andujar, MD.

The AMT is a teaching service, providing point of care education to providers as they make decisions about which antibiotics to initiate or continue in the course of the care of patients. This service emphasizes the application of Antimicrobial Stewardship principles, using the most appropriate treatments for each specific patient. The AMT conducts teaching conferences for residents, infectious disease fellows and medical students, as well as giving educational talks at a variety of divisional meetings throughout the institution and the region.

Training in antibiotic stewardship is a required element of an infectious disease fellowship program. Fellows in clinical training will take AMT calls from 8 am to 9 pm during weekends when on-call. These calls will then be reviewed with AMT staff to hone the stewardship skills of the fellow. Fellows are not expected to answer any calls about restricted antibiotics during the regular work week or after 9pm. Fellows in the 2- or 3-year track can opt to participate in the antimicrobial stewardship concentration, which includes more intensive hands-on training in stewardship concepts and techniques.

Unique services provided by the Tufts Medical Center AMT include an institution-specific pocket “Antimicrobial Treatment and Dosing Guide” which contains empiric antimicrobial choices for common infections along with dosing for normal and impaired renal function, “AMT question of the week” emails, and opportunities to conduct research projects that lead to presentations at national meetings and publication in major journals.

Consulting services now available

The Tufts Medical Center Experts in Antimicrobial Management (TEAM) program is available to partner with you to address your potential antimicrobial stewardship needs. Learn more about our antimicrobial stewardship consulting services >