Antimicrobial stewardship intervention to reduce unnecessary antibiotic doses in neonates.

The wording of the antibiotic duration orders for neonatal sepsis was changed as an antimicrobial stewardship initiative to reduce the administration of unnecessary antibiotic doses. The change in wording allowed the patient to stop receiving antibiotics after they received 48 hours of therapy if the health care team had not received notification of a positive culture. This initiative led to a decrease in the number of neonates that received extra unnecessary doses from 50% to 7.2%.