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Improvements in appropriate ambulatory antibiotic prescribing using a bundled antibiotic stewardship intervention in general pediatrics practices
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 January 2022
Abstract
To improve appropriate antibiotic prescribing for children in Tennessee.
We performed a before-and-after intervention study with 3 comparison periods: period 1 (P1, baseline) May 2018–September 2019; period 2 (P2, intervention before the COVID-19 pandemic) November 11, 2019–March 20, 2020; and period 3 (P3, intervention during the coronavirus disease 2019 [COVID-19] pandemic) March 21, 2020–November 10, 2020. We additionally surveyed participating providers to assess acceptance of the intervention.
Community general pediatrics practices.
In total, 81 general pediatricians, family medicine physicians, and nurse practitioners in 5 general pediatrics practices participated in this study.
Each practice identified a practice and operations champion for the project. Practices chose 2–4 implementation strategies previously shown to be effective at reducing outpatient antibiotic use to implement in their practice throughout the study intervention period. Study personnel also held quarterly meetings with all providers to review deidentified peer comparison feedback both across practices enrolled in the study and at the provider level within each practice.
We detected improvements in guideline-concordant antibiotic use in the pre-COVID-19 intervention period, and they were sustained in the study period during the pandemic (P3): otitis media (P1 72.14% vs P2 81.42% vs P3 86.11%), group A streptococcal pharyngitis (P1 66.13% vs P2 81.56% vs P3 80.44%), pneumonia (P1 70.6% vs P2 76.2% vs P3 100%), sinusitis (P1 76.2% vs P2 83.78% vs P3 82.86%), skin and soft-tissue infections (P1 97.18% vs P2 100% vs P3 100%).
Bundled implementation strategies led to significant increases in guideline-concordant antibiotic prescribing for all diagnoses. Survey results demonstrate that the bundled implementation strategies were well-accepted by providers.
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- © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America
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