# The fault in our SAAR: optimization and implementation of health-system dashboards for antimicrobial use and SAAR data

## TL;DR

This paper explains how a health system optimized its antimicrobial use dashboards to include SAAR data, improving antimicrobial stewardship across 10 hospitals.

## Contribution

A new standard operating procedure and configurable dashboards were developed to integrate SAAR data into antimicrobial stewardship programs.

## Key findings

- Pre-populated dashboards for SAAR antimicrobial categories were created for adult and pediatric populations.
- A standardized metric framework was established for antimicrobial stewardship across the health-system.
- Collaboration between clinicians, IT analysts, and infection preventionists was essential for successful implementation.

## Abstract

This paper describes a health-system’s experience incorporating Standardized Antimicrobial Administration Ratio (SAAR) data to optimize the existing antimicrobial use module within the electronic health record. We describe the design and implementation via a standard operating procedure (SOP), which incorporates SAAR and the optimized dashboards into the health-system’s antimicrobial stewardship program.

This is a descriptive study outlining our process of optimizing the electronic health records default antimicrobial use dashboard into a dual-purpose dashboard, SAAR and Antimicrobial Use (AU) dashboard, to be used across a health-system.

10-hospital health-system

For adult and pediatric populations, a pre-populated dashboard was created for each SAAR antimicrobial category using the existing EHR application. For adult, pediatric, and neonatal populations, improvements were made to visualize AU data in the dashboards. We created the framework for a standardized metric for our health-system’s antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP). An SOP was developed to establish an expectation for SAAR data analysis at the site level of our health-system’s ASP. The dashboards and SOP were created to evolve with the AUR protocol and health-system.

Pre-populated dashboards for adult and pediatric SAAR antimicrobial categories are configurable within existing electronic health-records, requiring minimal manipulation from the user to view which antimicrobials are driving a location’s SAAR.

In anticipation of required AUR reporting, other health-systems using the same EHR can utilize this approach to integrate the SAAR into their health-system’s antimicrobial stewardship programs. Collaboration between antimicrobial stewardship clinicians, pharmacist information technology (IT) analysts and infection preventionists are essential to accomplish this endeavor.