Tele-COVID Rounds and Tele-Stewardship Surveillance Reduces Antibiotic Use in COVID-19 Patients Admitted to 17 Small Community Hospitals

ABSTRACT

Background. Early bacterial co-infection is rare in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, yet antibiotics are commonly prescribed. Antibiotic stewardship (AS) intervention is needed, especially in small community hospitals (SCHs), which often lack access to AS expertise. Methods. We implemented daily remote multidisciplinary tele-COVID rounds (synchronous case review between SCH providers and ID clinicians) and tele-stewardship surveillance (ID pharmacist review of COVID patients on antibiotics) on 6/24/2020 in 17 SCHs. We retrospectively included adult symptomatic COVID-19 admissions between 3/2020 and 4/2021. The primary outcome was early use of antibiotics for pneumonia (started within 48 hours of admission);mean monthly days of therapy per 1,000 patient days (DOT) were compared pre- (3/2020-6/2020) and post-intervention (7/2020-4/2021). Secondary outcomes were early use of antibiotics for any indication, estimated days of antibiotics avoided (comparing pre- and post-intervention DOT), and in-hospital mortality. Analyses were conducted using a twotailed unpaired t-test (antibiotic use) or Fisher's exact test (mortality). Results. Of the 1,976 patients included (124 pre- vs. 1852 post-intervention), 55.4% were male and 85.5% were white. Patients in the pre-intervention group were more likely to require hospital transfer [21.8% vs 8.8% (p< 0.001)] and ICU admission [18.5% vs. 9.7% (p=0.003)]. We observed a significant decrease in mean use of early antibiotics for pneumonia [656.9 vs. 240.1 DOT (p< 0.001)], including among non-ICU patients only [603.6 vs 240.2 DOT (p< 0.001)]. Early antibiotic use for any indication also decreased [686.2 vs. 359.3 DOT (p< 0.001)]. An estimated 3,697 days of unnecessary antibiotics for pneumonia were avoided in the 10-months post-intervention [370 days per month (95% CI 304 - 435)]. Unadjusted in-hospital mortality was not different pre- vs post-intervention (0.8% vs. 2.0%, p=0.511), but was higher among those prescribed early antibiotics (4.4% vs 0.5%, p< 0.001). Conclusion. A significant, sustained reduction in antibiotic use among COVID-19 patients at 17 SCHs was observed after implementation of tele-COVID rounds and tele-stewardship surveillance without an observed difference in mortality.