A study published in npj Antimicrobials and Resistance has demonstrated that Ask Eolas, an AI-powered clinical decision support system developed by Eolas Medical, achieved 100% prescribing accuracy in a randomized controlled trial conducted by researchers at Imperial College London, with support from the NIHR Northwest London Patient Safety Research Collaboration. The findings come as U.S. hospitals face mounting pressure to reduce inappropriate antibiotic use under stewardship mandates from The Joint Commission, CMS, and the CDC’s National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria.
According to the CDC, up to 50% of antibiotics prescribed in U.S. hospitals are unnecessary or inappropriately prescribed, contributing to more than 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections and over 35,000 deaths annually. The study evaluated three tools across progressively complex prescribing scenarios involving 45 clinicians: Hospital PDF Guidelines (47% accuracy), the Eolas App (60%), and Ask Eolas (100%). The improvement was statistically significant (p < 0.001), with an absolute risk reduction of 53% compared to standard PDF guidelines and a number needed to treat (NNT) of 1.9 — meaning for every two clinicians using Ask Eolas, one additional prescribing error was prevented.
Clinicians using Ask Eolas also reported substantially higher prescribing confidence and lower cognitive workload across all NASA Task Load Index domains, a standardized cognitive workload assessment. Ask Eolas allows clinicians to ask a question in natural language and receive an answer drawn exclusively from their health system’s own approved guidelines and protocols, with full source references — improving clinician access and adherence to hospital-developed protocols at the point of care.
Eolas Medical is already deployed across several leading U.S. health systems and academic medical centers, including Mass General Brigham, Stanford, and Boston Children’s Hospital, and is expanding antimicrobial stewardship capabilities nationwide. The company recently opened its U.S. headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and continues to build out its team to expand its reach across the U.S. market.
“This study demonstrates how guideline-grounded AI can strengthen antimicrobial stewardship infrastructure while supporting frontline clinicians in high-pressure environments. With the opening of our U.S. headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, we are firmly committed to making this technology available to health systems across the country, because every clinician deserves real-time access to the best evidence at the point of care,” said Dr. Declan Kelly, Founder & CEO of Eolas Medical.
Eolas Medical is a healthcare knowledge management platform used by clinical teams across the United States, United Kingdom and Ireland to improve access to trusted treatment guidance at the point of care. Its software helps hospitals strengthen antimicrobial stewardship programs, reduce prescribing variation and support safer frontline decision-making. Ask Eolas uses retrieval-augmented generation to deliver recommendations grounded exclusively in hospital-approved clinical guidelines, enabling transparent, auditable and institution-aligned prescribing support.
