Sentri7: An aid to antibiotic stewardship

"Antimicrobial management is a huge, huge issue," said Charles Westergard, R.Ph., MBA, a former hospital clinical pharmacist and now VP of product design at Pharmacy OneSource, a medical software provider in Bellevue, Wash. Westergard said 40% to 60% of inpatient pharmacy budgets are devoted to antimicrobials, "so managing those drugs is a big deal."

New software by Pharmacy OneSource could help. Sentri7 is pharmacy-specific, Web-hosted software that analyzes existing medication, lab, and patient data systems and then provides results on detailed, patient-specific Web pages. The software works with whatever software and hardware hospitals are currently using to record medication, lab, and patient data.

Sentri7 can be individualized by the user to collect certain data about certain patients, which is very helpful in antibiotic stewardship programs. Sentri7 automates data collection, analysis, action steps, and outcome documentation. All of these functions are performed based on parameters set by the user. For example, the software can be set up to screen patients on certain antibiotics whose creatinine clearance falls outside normal values. Another example would be to screen for IV-to-PO candidates.

Response to the software has been very positive, said Westergard. "Immediately, people in infection control have been impressed." Pharmacy OneSource software is now in use in more than 1,000 U.S. hospitals. According to the company, pharmacists saved their hospitals $15 million in the second quarter of this year by using OneSource software to make interventions. The drug most often involved in the interventions was vancomycin.