What is Antiretroviral Stewardship?

Segment Description: Daniel B. Chastain, PharmD, BCIDP, AAHIVP, clinical assistant professor at the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy, explains antiretroviral stewardship at IDWeek 2019.

Interview Transcript (modified slightly for readability):

Chastain: I'll put in a plug for paper that was published in CID (Clinical Infectious Diseases), within a week or so ago, that really was a call to action for antiretroviral stewardship.

It's hopefully the next logical step in antimicrobial stewardship as a whole. But antiretroviral stewardship is a little bit different than antimicrobial stewardship in that antiretrovirals are typically started in the outpatient setting and then continued upon inpatient admission.

It's certainly a different aspect, really making sure that patients are compliant, if they are supposedly on antiretrovirals, and also making sure that we have those agents available for them. Whether it's splitting up a single tablet regimen or continuing that single tablet regimen at home, because if we administer them inappropriately, whether it be an incorrect schedule or incorrect regimen doses, for example, it could certainly lead to higher rates of drug interactions, deleterious adverse effects, virologic failure even and forcing them to have to change the regimen later on in the future if they experience resistance.