Hackensack Meridian Health Hospitals Achieve Recognition for Antimicrobial Stewardship

What You Need To Know

Hackensack Meridian Health  is proud to announce that five of its hospitals were recognized as Gold Antimicrobial Stewardship Recognition Program award recipients by the New Jersey Department of Health. Hackensack Meridian Mountainside Medical Center, Hackensack Meridian Old Bridge Medical Center, Hackensack Meridian Ocean University Medical Center, Hackensack Meridian Palisades Medical Center, Hackensack Meridian Raritan Bay Medical Center and Hackensack Meridian Riverview Medical Center were all recognized for their efforts to improve antibiotic use, advance patient safety and improve outcomes.

Awards were presented on December 6, at a ceremony and conference held at the Middlesex College, Edison, NJ. These awards follow the observance of Antibiotic Awareness Week, an annual recognition hosted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) during the month of November, to raise awareness of the importance of appropriate antibiotic use to combat the threat of antibiotic resistance.

The New Jersey Antimicrobial Stewardship Recognition Awards is a voluntary incentive program that encourages health care facilities to submit stewardship materials in concordance with CDC’s Core Elements of Antibiotic Stewardship, a set of key principles to guide efforts to improve antibiotic use and advance patient safety and improve outcomes.

The complexity of antimicrobial use, reporting, tracking, and education in addition to the variability in health care facility size and types of care require flexible programs and activities.