Stephen Parodi, MD

What started as a local initiative to address an overuse of meropenem, evolved under Dr. Parodi’s leadership into a successful regionwide Antimicrobial Stewardship Program. The impetus was the discovery that 20% of the time meropenem was prescribed at Vallejo, the medication was not indicated.

In response, Dr. Parodi developed a program in which the pharmacist would present cases of patients receiving meropenem to the infectious disease (ID) physician on call. If the physician determined that the antibiotic regimen was not appropriate, he or she would call the treating physician and suggest discontinuing the therapy or substituting an alternative medication. Within three months, use of meropenem fell by about 40%. As the program expanded to include all inpatient antimicrobial agents, resistance rates for certain gram negative organisms declined, as did Clostridium difficile infection rates.

Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs were launched at every KPNC hospital in January 2010. During the first year, antimicrobial usage declined an average of 10%.

While planning for the rollout of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program, Dr. Parodi got a call about a new strain of influenza. Within days he was serving as primary clinical leader for KPNC’s response to the H1N1 pandemic. The next year was busy, as he provided advice on vaccine distribution and infection control; interacted with state and national government agencies; and briefed the media. Now that the pandemic has abated, the legacy of his leadership leaves us much better prepared to respond to infectious disease outbreak.