Antibiotic Stewardship Program
The Antibiotic Stewardship Program (ASP) at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center is an amazing multidisciplinary team involving Pharmacy, Infection Control, and the Divisions of HIV & ID. Led by Amy Kang, Pharm.D. and Loren Miller, M.D., M.P.H., the goals of the program are to improve the appropriate use of antimicrobials, optimize patient safety, and promote cost containment. Core elements include optimizing antibiotic selection and duration of therapy, limiting excessive broad-spectrum antimicrobial use, and ensuring evidence-based recommendations with appropriate oral transition.
The ID Fellow involvement with the ASP occurs throughout their two years of training. Fellows will receive both didactic training and practical experience in antimicrobial stewardship as part of their training.
While on the Bridge Service, fellows hold the approval pager and work directly with their attending to discuss cases as well as provide initiation of outpatient parenteral antibiotic therapy (OPAT). Fellows work with the ID Division faculty and our amazing Harbor-UCLA home health coordinators for monitoring and follow up of all OPAT candidates.
All ID Fellows are committee members on the ASP, with quarterly meetings throughout the year. Fellows will participate in the discussions, including ASP-related quality improvement initiatives and other hospital-wide metrics and data pertaining to the ASP.
A two-year subscription to the IDSA Antimicrobial Stewardship Curriculum is purchased at the start of the fellowship for our fellows to complete. Lucky for us, two of the members that help create and continue to update the Curriculum are part of our ASP Committee (Amy Kang PharmD and Gary Fong PharmD)
Click here for a demo of the IDSA Core AS Curriculum. Â 
A pharmacy led ASP team performs in-person rounds in the intensive care units (medical, surgical, cardiac) to review all antibiotic usage three times per week (M/W/F) at Harbor-UCLA. During research blocks, the ID Fellow will accompany these rounds at least weekly with graduated independence to provide recommendations.
Additional opportunities exist for Fellows that are interested in ASP and want to devote more time during their fellowship to this important field in Infectious Diseases. Extra elective time is available with the ASP team. Additionally, pharmacy students from Chapman University play an integral part of the ASP team and are involved in a multitude of Quality Improvement (QI) projects.
ID Fellows in the past have worked with the pharmacy students on large QI and retrospective cohort studies as part of their research experience. If interested, fellows are encouraged to partake in QI projects in collaboration with pharmacy faculty and students.
Infection Prevention and Control
Fellows have ample opportunity to become familiar with the fields of Infection Prevention & Control, and hospital epidemiology. All fellows are members of the Infection Prevention and Control Committee and attend meetings the 3rd Thursday of alternating months. In addition, the Fellows participate in scheduled didactic conferences focusing on such topics.
Fellows may also participate in selected Infection Prevention & Control task forces. Task forces include the Bloodstream Infection Prevention (CLA-BSI) Task Force, the Urinary Tract Infection Prevention (CA-UTI) Task Force, and the Hand Hygiene Task Force, among others. Fellows may also choose to do their research project in Infection Prevention and Control related areas, participate in outbreak investigations, or do elective rotations within the Department under the aegis of the Infectious Diseases Fellowship training program.