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The necessity of implementing steroid stewardship: Are we lagging behind antimicrobials and opioids?
Shabeer Ali Thorakkattil1, Gopika Krishnan2, Savera Ikram Arain1, Mohammed Salim Karattuthodi3, Mamdouh Mohammed Ahmed Ageeli1, Sarath Chandran4, Suhaj Abdulsalim5
1 Pharmacy Services Department, Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
2 Department of Pharmacy Practice, The Erode College of Pharmacy, Erode, Tamil Nadu, India
3 Department of Pharmacy Practice, Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka, India
4 Department of Pharmacy, College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Government Medical College Kannur, Kannur, Kerala, India
5 Department of Pharmacy Practice, Unaizah College of Pharmacy, Qassim University, Buraydah, Saudi Arabia
Correspondence Address:
Savera Ikram Arain
Pharmacy Services Department, Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare, Dhahran
Saudi Arabia
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None
DOI: 10.4103/sjcp.sjcp_16_22
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Stewardship programs aiming at optimizing medication use are a core element of healthcare organizations. It allows for strategic interventions to improve both financial and therapeutic outcomes. The antibiotic and opioid stewardship programs have already been successfully established in several healthcare organizations. In addition to the financial aspect, they have also improved clinical outcomes and minimized harm by reducing antibiotic resistance, opioid use disorders, morbidity, and mortality. Steroids, also known as corticosteroids, are anti-inflammatory medications used to treat a range of conditions. If used inappropriately, they can result in serious and undesirable adverse effects. Steroid stewardship is a rather novel concept that aims to reduce inappropriate prescribing and improve clinical outcomes by creating a careful balance between therapeutic doses vs. doses that may cause adverse effects. The article’s objective is to highlight the need for a comprehensive approach to implement steroid stewardship programs as a multicomponent program involving multidisciplinary teams to identify potential treatment gaps and establish cognitive and practical approaches to overcome them. |
