Antibiotic Stewardship Implementation and Antibiotic Use at Hospitals With and Without On-site Infectious Disease Specialists
Open Access
- 8 April 2020
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Clinical Infectious Diseases
- Vol. 72 (10), 1810-1817
- https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa388
Abstract
Background Many US hospitals lack infectious disease (ID) specialists, which may hinder antibiotic stewardship efforts. We sought to compare patient-level antibiotic exposure at Veterans Health Administration (VHA) hospitals with and without an on-site ID specialist, defined as an ID physician and/or ID pharmacist. Methods This retrospective VHA cohort included all acute-care patient admissions during 2016. A mandatory survey was used to identify hospitals’ antibiotic stewardship processes and their access to an on-site ID specialist. Antibiotic use was quantified as days of therapy per days present and categorized based on National Healthcare Safety Network definitions. A negative binomial regression model with risk adjustment was used to determine the association between presence of an on-site ID specialist and antibiotic use at the level of patient admissions. Results Eighteen of 122 (14.8%) hospitals lacked an on-site ID specialist; there were 525 451 (95.8%) admissions at ID hospitals and 23 007 (4.2%) at non-ID sites. In the adjusted analysis, presence of an ID specialist was associated with lower total inpatient antibacterial use (odds ratio, 0.92; 95% confidence interval, .85–.99). Presence of an ID specialist was also associated with lower use of broad-spectrum antibacterials (0.61; .54–.70) and higher narrow-spectrum β-lactam use (1.43; 1.22–1.67). Total antibacterial exposure (inpatient plus postdischarge) was lower among patients at ID versus non-ID sites (0.92; .86–.99). Conclusions Patients at hospitals with an ID specialist received antibiotics in a way more consistent with stewardship principles. The presence of an ID specialist may be important to effective antibiotic stewardship.Keywords
Funding Information
- Health Services Research and Development (CDA 16–204)
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