Gwendolyn Morrison
Assistant ProfessorDepartment of Economics, IU School of Liberal Arts
Investigator, Regenstrief Institute, Inc.
ude[dot]iupui[at]sirromcg
Antibiotic Resistant Infections
Gwendolyn Morrison is an economist who found survey research data collected in the Center on Implementing Evidence-Based Practice regarding antibiotic resistant infections in hospitals to be intriguing. Antibiotic resistant infections are an increasingly important problem in hospitals in terms of the number of unique resistant organisms, the percentage of hospitals with infected patients, and the infection rates within those hospitals. Consequently, the costs of these infections, in financial and human terms, are also increasing. These infections increase the costs of care through longer lengths of stay, more intensive care admissions, and more intensive resource use by patients. Professor Morrison’s application of her economist perspective in this interdisciplinary research effort has resulted in a recommendation to approach the problem in a different way. Her team’s current research results call for a national response to establish guidelines for hospitals regarding antibiotic resistant infections, a screening process for all inpatient admissions, and support for additional research for the development of new antibiotics.