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The use of an IV to PO clinical intervention form to improve antibiotic administration in a community based hospital.

ABSTRACT: Antimicrobials are among the most commonly prescribed medications in acute care settings, with 50% of antimicrobial use deemed inappropriate. Antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASP) aim to optimize antibiotic use in order to improve patient clinical outcomes while minimizing unwanted effects of therapy including Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) and the emergence of resistant organisms. Antimicrobial Stewardship involves a coordinated set of interventions that ensure patients who require antimicrobial therapy receive the most appropriate agent at the correct dose, by the correct route for the correct duration. This project focused on the appropriate conversion from intravenous (IV) to oral (PO) antibiotics. The purpose of the project was to determine whether antibiotic prescribing patterns improved following the implementation of an IV to PO conversion clinical intervention form. A collaborative approach was used by an interprofessional team to review medical records and design a clinical intervention form that adheres to evidence-based guidelines to promote appropriate conversion for patients on intravenous antibiotics. Education efforts were made to inform health system staff about the goal of the intervention and to gather feedback for the improvement of the clinical intervention form. A five-week pilot intervention period trial was carried out with a specific focus on the fluoroquinolone class of antibiotics, specifically ciprofloxacin, moxifloxacin, and levofloxacin. Data from the intervention phase, including overall antibiotic use, ratio of intravenous:oral antibiotic time and compliance with the clinical intervention form were assessed. The ratio of intravenous to oral fluoroquinolone use changed from 39.4% IV: 60.6% PO before the intervention, to 34.7% IV: 65.3% PO during the intervention, indicating an overall increase in the usage of oral fluoroquinolones during the intervention phase. In patients eligible to receive the clinical intervention form, physician compliance with the form was 50%. IV duration decreased by 42% in patients with physician compliance. Further refinement of this form and the process for implementation will further enhance the conversion of intravenous to oral therapy. Based on these findings and the lessons learned, this process will be considered for further refinements, spread, and sustainability.

SUBMITTER: Thompson C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4645920 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundIntravenous (IV) hydration is considered a protective factor in reducing the incidence of acyclovir-induced nephrotoxicity. A systems-based review of cases of acyclovir-associated acute kidney injury can be used to examine institution-, care provider-, and task-related factors involved in administering the drug and can serve as a basis for developing a quality improvement intervention to achieve safer administration of acyclovir.ObjectivesTo explore the effectiveness of the study institution's inter-disciplinary quality improvement intervention in increasing the dilution of acyclovir before IV administration.MethodsAfter conducting a systems-based review for intervention development, a retrospective analysis was undertaken to compare IV administration of acyclovir in the 6-month periods before and after implementation of the intervention. The study population was a sequential sample of all patients over 18 years of age who were seen in the emergency department or admitted to a ward and who received at least one IV dose of acyclovir at the study institution. The primary outcome was the volume in which each acyclovir dose was delivered. The secondary outcomes were the hourly rate of fluid administration, the frequency of an increase in hourly hydration rate, and the incidence of acute kidney injury.ResultsEighty-four patients (44 in the pre-intervention period and 40 in the post-intervention period) received IV acyclovir and had evaluable data for the primary outcome. The median volume in which the acyclovir dose was administered was significantly higher in the post-intervention group (250 mL versus 100 mL, p < 0.001).ConclusionsIn this study, an easily implemented intervention significantly increased the volume of IV fluid administered to patients receiving acyclovir. Adequately powered prospective studies are suggested to investigate the effectiveness of this intervention on the clinically relevant incidence of acyclovir-induced nephrotoxicity.

Project description:BackgroundAcute coronary syndrome, including acute myocardial infarction (AMI), is one of the leading causes for hospitalization, with AMI 30-day readmission rates around 20%. Supporting patient information needs and increasing adherence to recommended self-management behaviors during transition from hospital to home has the potential to improve patient outcomes. Text messages have been effective in other interventions and may be suitable to provide support to patients during this transition period.ObjectiveThe goal of this study is to pilot test a text messaging intervention program (Txt2Prevent) that supports acute coronary syndrome patients for 60 days postdischarge. The primary objective is to compare self-management, as measured by the Health Education Impact Questionnaire, between patients receiving only usual care versus those who receive usual care plus the Txt2Prevent intervention. The secondary objectives are to compare medication adherence, health-related quality of life, self-efficacy, health care resource use (and associated costs), all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD) readmission, and all-cause and CVD mortality rates between the 2 groups. The third objective is to assess acceptability of the text messaging intervention and feasibility of the study protocol.MethodsThis is a randomized controlled trial with blinding of outcome assessors. The Txt2Prevent program includes automated text messages to patients about standard follow-up care, general self-management, and healthy living. The content of the text messages was informed by and developed based on interviews with patients, discharge materials, theoretical domains of behavior, and a clinical advisory group composed of patients, clinicians, and researchers. We will recruit 76 consecutive cardiac in-patients with acute coronary syndrome who are treated with either medical management or percutaneous coronary intervention from a hospital in Vancouver, Canada.ResultsAssessments at baseline will include measures for demographic information, self-management, health-related quality of life, and self-efficacy. Assessments at follow-up will include medication adherence, readmissions, health care resource use, and mortality in addition to the reassessment of baseline measures. Baseline assessments are done in-person while follow-up assessments are completed through a combination of mailed packages and phone calls. Semistructured interviews with participants will also be performed to better understand participant experiences managing their condition and with the text messages.ConclusionsThis study will determine preliminary efficacy, feasibility, and acceptability of the Txt2Prevent program to support acute coronary syndrome patients in the transition to home following hospital discharge. The results of this study will be used to inform a larger trial.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT02336919; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02336919 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6qMjEqo6O).

Project description:IntroductionCommunity-acquired pneumonia (CAP) continues to be a major health problem worldwide and is one of the main reasons for prescribing antibiotics. However, the causative agent is often not identified, resulting in antibiotic overtreatment, which is a key driver of antimicrobial resistance and adverse events. We aim to test the hypothesis that comprehensive molecular testing, compared with routine microbiological testing, would be effective in reducing antibiotic use in patients with CAP.Methods and analysisWe will perform a randomised, controlled, open-label clinical trial with two parallel groups (1:1) at two tertiary hospitals between 2020 and 2022. Non-severely immunosuppressed adults hospitalised for CAP will be considered eligible. Patients will be randomly assigned to receive either the experimental diagnosis (comprehensive molecular testing plus routine microbiological testing) or standard diagnosis (only microbiological routine testing). The primary endpoint will be antibiotic consumption measured as days of antibiotic therapy per 1000 patient-days. Secondary endpoints will be de-escalation to narrower antibiotic treatment, time to switch from intravenous to oral antibiotics, days to reaching an aetiological diagnosis, antibiotic-related side effects, length of stay, days to clinical stability, intensive care unit admission, days of mechanical ventilation, hospital readmission up to 30 days after randomisation and death from any cause by 48 hours and 30 days after randomisation. We will need to include 440 subjects to be able to reject the null hypothesis that both groups have equal days of antibiotic therapy per 1000 patient-days with a probability >0.8.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval has been obtained from the Ethics Committee of Bellvitge Hospital (AC028/19) and from the Spanish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency, and it is valid for all participating centres under existing Spanish legislation. Results will be presented at international meetings and will be made available to patients, their caregivers and funders.Trial registration numberClinicalTrials: NCT04158492. EudraCT: 2018-004880-29.

Project description:IntroductionIn low-income countries, Surgical Site Infection (SSI) is a common form of hospital-acquired infection. Antibiotic prophylaxis is an effective method of preventing these infections, if given immediately before the start of surgery. Although several studies in Africa have compared pre-operative versus post-operative prophylaxis, there are no studies describing the implementation of policies to improve prescribing of surgical antibiotic prophylaxis in African hospitals.MethodsWe conducted SSI surveillance at a typical Government hospital in Kenya over a 16 month period between August 2010 and December 2011, using standard definitions of SSI and the extent of contamination of surgical wounds. As an intervention, we developed a hospital policy that advised pre-operative antibiotic prophylaxis and discouraged extended post-operative antibiotics use. We measured process, outcome and balancing effects of this intervention in using an interrupted time series design.ResultsFrom a starting point of near-exclusive post-operative antibiotic use, after policy introduction in February 2011 there was rapid adoption of the use of pre-operative antibiotic prophylaxis (60% of operations at 1 week; 98% at 6 weeks) and a substantial decrease in the use of post-operative antibiotics (40% of operations at 1 week; 10% at 6 weeks) in Clean and Clean-Contaminated surgery. There was no immediate step-change in risk of SSI, but overall, there appeared to be a moderate reduction in the risk of superficial SSI across all levels of wound contamination. There were marked reductions in the costs associated with antibiotic use, the number of intravenous injections performed and nursing time spent administering these.ConclusionImplementation of a locally developed policy regarding surgical antibiotic prophylaxis is an achievable quality improvement target for hospitals in low-income countries, and can lead to substantial benefits for individual patients and the institution.

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The use of an IV to PO clinical intervention form to improve antibiotic administration in a community based hospital.

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