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Antibiotic Prescribing Variability in a Large Urgent Care Network: A New Target for Outpatient Stewardship.

ABSTRACT: Improving antibiotic prescribing in outpatient settings is a public health priority. In the United States, urgent care (UC) encounters are increasing and have high rates of inappropriate antibiotic prescribing. Our objective was to characterize antibiotic prescribing practices during UC encounters, with a focus on respiratory tract conditions. This was a retrospective cohort study of UC encounters in the Intermountain Healthcare network. Among 1.16 million UC encounters, antibiotics were prescribed during 34% of UC encounters and respiratory conditions accounted for 61% of all antibiotics prescribed. Of respiratory encounters, 50% resulted in antibiotic prescriptions, yet the variability at the level of the provider ranged from 3% to 94%. Similar variability between providers was observed for respiratory conditions where antibiotics were not indicated and in first-line antibiotic selection for sinusitis, otitis media, and pharyngitis. These findings support the importance of developing antibiotic stewardship interventions specifically targeting UC settings.

SUBMITTER: Stenehjem E

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7768670 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Antibiotic Prescribing Variability in a Large Urgent Care Network: A New Target for Outpatient Stewardship.

Stenehjem Edward E Wallin Anthony A Fleming-Dutra Katherine E KE Buckel Whitney R WR Stanfield Valoree V Brunisholz Kimberly D KD Sorensen Jeff J Samore Matthew H MH Srivastava Raj R Hicks Lauri A LA Hersh Adam L AL

Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America 20200401 8

Improving antibiotic prescribing in outpatient settings is a public health priority. In the United States, urgent care (UC) encounters are increasing and have high rates of inappropriate antibiotic prescribing. Our objective was to characterize antibiotic prescribing practices during UC encounters, with a focus on respiratory tract conditions. This was a retrospective cohort study of UC encounters in the Intermountain Healthcare network. Among 1.16 million UC encounters, antibiotics were prescri ...[more]

PMID: 31641768

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Project description:ImportanceUrgent Care (UC) encounters result in more inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions than other outpatient setting. Few stewardship interventions have focused on UC.ObjectiveTo evaluate the effectiveness of an antibiotic stewardship initiative to reduce antibiotic prescribing for respiratory conditions in a UC network.Design, setting, and participantsThis quality improvement study conducted in a UC network with 38 UC clinics and 1 telemedicine clinic included 493 724 total UC encounters. The study compared the antibiotic prescribing rates of all UC clinicians who encountered respiratory conditions for a 12-month baseline period (July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2019) with an intervention period (July 1, 2019, through June 30, 2020). A sustainability period (July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2021) was added post hoc.InterventionsStewardship interventions included (1) education for clinicians and patients, (2) electronic health record (EHR) tools, (3) a transparent clinician benchmarking dashboard, and (4) media. Occurring independently but concurrent with the interventions, a stewardship measure was introduced by UC leadership into the quality measures, including a financial incentive.Main outcomes and measuresThe primary outcome was the percentage of UC encounters with an antibiotic prescription for a respiratory condition. Secondary outcomes included antibiotic prescribing when antibiotics were not indicated (tier 3 encounters) and first-line antibiotics for acute otitis media, sinusitis, and pharyngitis. Interrupted time series with binomial generalized estimating equations were used to compare periods.ResultsThe baseline period included 207 047 UC encounters for respiratory conditions (56.8% female; mean [SD] age, 30.0 [21.4] years; 92.0% White race); the intervention period included 183 893 UC encounters (56.4% female; mean [SD] age, 30.7 [20.8] years; 91.2% White race). Antibiotic prescribing for respiratory conditions decreased from 47.8% (baseline) to 33.3% (intervention). During the initial intervention month, a 22% reduction in antibiotic prescribing occurred (odds ratio [OR], 0.78; 95% CI, 0.71-0.86). Antibiotic prescriptions decreased by 5% monthly during the intervention (OR, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.94-0.96). Antibiotic prescribing for tier 3 encounters decreased by 47% (OR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.44-63), and first-line antibiotic prescriptions increased by 18% (OR, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.09-1.29) during the initial intervention month. Antibiotic prescriptions for tier 3 encounters decreased by an additional 4% each month (OR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.94-0.98), whereas first-line antibiotic prescriptions did not change (OR, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.99-1.01). Antibiotic prescribing for respiratory conditions remained stable in the sustainability period.Conclusions and relevanceThe findings of this quality improvement study indicated that a UC antibiotic stewardship initiative was associated with decreased antibiotic prescribing for respiratory conditions. This study provides a model for UC antibiotic stewardship.

Dataset Information

Antibiotic Prescribing Variability in a Large Urgent Care Network: A New Target for Outpatient Stewardship.

Publications

Antibiotic Prescribing Variability in a Large Urgent Care Network: A New Target for Outpatient Stewardship.

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