Antimicrobial stewardship pharmacist selected as this year's recipient of the CSHP award for Excellence in Pharmacy Practice - Patient Care

Congratulations to Sunnybrook antimicrobial stewardship pharmacist, Marion Elligsen, who has been recognized by the Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists (CSHP) for the CSHP award for Excellence in Pharmacy Practice – Patient Care. This award recognizes an individual or team that has worked effectively across disciplines or boundaries to improve pharmacy practice or patient care.

Together with her research team (Nick Daneman, Derek MacFadden, Jerome Leis, Ruxandra Pinto and Sandra Walker), Marion designed, implemented and evaluated a new intervention to improve empiric antibiotic selection across multiple acute care services at Sunnybrook. This intervention personalized antibiotic selections using algorithms and regression models to identify patients who were at high risk for infection from resistant organisms, and promoted early de-escalation in those who lack risk factors. The results of these interventions have been published in Clinical Infectious Diseases in July 2020 and September 2020.

The Antimicrobial Stewardship Team (AST) is made up of dedicated Infectious Diseases physicians and pharmacists, working to improve the appropriateness of antibiotic utilization at the hospital. Established in 2009, the AST has achieved great positive impacts in several intensive care units, medical and surgical wards through close collaboration with attending teams to improve patient care in all targeted areas.

Please join us in congratulating Marion and her team.