%0 Thesis
%9 PhD
%A Coulter, Sonali A.
%D 2018
%F quteprints:116505
%K Antimicrobial Stewardship
%K Cost-effectiveness
%K Bloodstream infection
%K Rapid Diagnostics
%K Clinical Decision Support system
%K Economic Evaluation
%K MALDI-TOF
%K Hospital
%K Health Economics
%K Health resource allocation
%R 10.5204/thesis.eprints.116505
%T An economic evaluation of antimicrobial stewardship programs in metropolitan Australian hospitals
%U https://eprints.qut.edu.au/116505/
%X This thesis provides the first economic evaluation of Antimicrobial Stewardship (AMS) interventions in two Metropolitan Australian Hospitals. AMS interventions are cost-saving from a hospital perspective and are cost-effective particularly if teamed with rapid diagnostics in the microbiology laboratory. The uncertainty in the mortality estimates does not allow for a high level of confidence in the cost-effectiveness decision for policy makers. While mortality is a useful metric, morbidity associated with bloodstream infections due to inappropriate prescribing needs to be collected over a longer period of time to capture the true benefits of AMS interventions.