Positive gains from antimicrobial stewardship programs decline after the program is discontinued, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Researchers, led by Jeffrey Gerber, M.D., Ph.D., of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, analyzed the effect of an outpatient antimicrobial stewardship intervention on antibiotic prescriptions over a 32-month study period. Broad-spectrum antibiotic rates fell for the intervention group compared to the control group during the intervention, audit and feedback stages, but the two groups evened out after terminating prescription audits and feedback, according to the study. Study abstract