Antimicrobial Stewardship Program in Private Hospitals

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an increasing threat to patient safety and healthcare sustainability worldwide. The Antimicrobial Stewardship Program (ASP) is a coordinated approach that promotes the appropriate use of antimicrobials to improve clinical outcomes, minimize adverse effects, and reduce the development of resistant organisms. In private hospitals, effective stewardship is essential to ensure high-quality care, optimize treatment outcomes, and manage healthcare costs.

This lunch talk will introduce the key principles and components of ASP, including evidence-based prescribing, antimicrobial review and de-escalation, surveillance of antimicrobial use, and multidisciplinary collaboration. Participants will gain insight into the roles of clinicians, pharmacists, microbiologists, and infection prevention and control professionals in supporting stewardship initiatives.

Through practical examples and lessons learned from healthcare settings, the session will highlight common challenges and successful strategies for implementing and sustaining ASP. Attendees will leave with a better understanding of how antimicrobial stewardship strengthens patient safety, supports infection prevention efforts, and contributes to combating antimicrobial resistance in private hospitals.

Our Speakers
 

Dr. Loh Jiashen is an infectious diseases specialist at Farrer Park Hospital. Dr. Loh entered into private practice in January 2021 with a passion for patient care and personal ethos of pursuing clinical excellence.

Upon completion of his advanced training, Dr. Loh helmed the infectious disease service and was the first and only infectious disease physician at the then newly established Sengkang General Hospital (SKH) at its nesting site at the Alexandra Hospital Campus. His duties included setting up the antibiotic stewardship program, multi-disciplinary HIV care, infectious disease consult service and serving as the physician lead for Severe Illness and Death from Possible Infectious Cause (SIDPIC) program in SKH. His duties expanded after SKH relocated from the Alexandra Campus to its present site.

At SKH, Dr. Loh also shouldered clinical duties in General Medicine and undergraduate medical education.

Dr. Loh graduated from the National University of Singapore in 2007 and completed his internal medicine residency in 2011. He subsequently went on to advanced training in infectious diseases in Tan Tock Seng Hospital and completed this in 2016.

Dr Loh's specialty interest is human immunodeficiency virus, multi-drug resistant organisms test, tubercolosis and vaccinology.