Improving Delayed Antibiotic Prescribing for Acute Otitis Media.

OBJECTIVES: Acute otitis media (AOM) is the most-common indication for antibiotics in children. Delayed antibiotic prescribing for AOM can significantly reduce unnecessary antibiotic use and is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics for select children. We sought to improve delayed prescribing for AOM across 8 outpatient pediatric practices in Colorado. METHODS: Through a collaborative initiative with American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, we implemented an economical 6-month antimicrobial stewardship intervention that included education, audit and feedback, online resources, and content expertise. Practices used The Model for Improvement and plan-do-study-act cycles to improve delayed antibiotic prescribing. Generalized estimating equations were used to generate relative risk ratios (RRRs) for outcomes at the intervention end and 3- and 6-months postintervention. Practice surveys were evaluated. RESULTS: In total, 69 clinicians at 8 practice sites implemented 27 plan-do-study-act cycles. Practices varied by size (range: 6-37 providers), payer type, and geographic setting. The rate of delayed antibiotic prescribing increased from 2% at baseline to 21% at intervention end (RRR: 8.96; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.68-17.17). Five practices submitted postintervention data. The rate of delayed prescribing at 3 months and 6 months postintervention remained significantly higher than baseline (3 months postintervention, RRR: 8.46; 95% CI: 4.18-17.11; 6 months postintervention, RRR: 6.69; 95% CI: 3.53-12.65) and did not differ from intervention end (3 months postintervention, RRR: 1.12; 95% CI: 0.62-2.05; 6-months postintervention, RRR: 0.89; 95% CI: 0.53-1.49). CONCLUSIONS: Baseline rate of delayed prescribing was low. A low-cost intervention resulted in a significant and sustained increase in delayed antibiotic prescribing across a diversity of settings.

Treatment Complexities Among Patients with Tuberculosis in a High HIV Prevalence Cohort in the United States.

The association between human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and tuberculosis (TB) mortality has been studied extensively, but the impact of HIV on other clinically relevant aspects of TB care such as TB drug-related adverse events (AEs), hospital readmissions, and TB treatment duration is less well characterized. We describe the association of HIV infection with TB clinical complexities and outcomes in a high HIV prevalence cohort in the United States. This is a retrospective cohort study among patients treated for culture-confirmed TB between 2008 and 2015 at an inner-city hospital in Atlanta, GA. Univariate analysis was used to estimate association of HIV with TB treatment interruption due to AEs, hospital readmissions, and treatment duration. Final unfavorable TB treatment outcome was defined as death, loss to follow-up, or recurrent TB. Logistic regression modeling was used to estimate association of HIV with final unfavorable outcomes. Among 274 patients with TB, 96 (35%) had HIV coinfection. HIV-positive patients had more TB treatment interruptions due to AE (34% vs. 15%), were more likely to have a hospital readmission (50% vs. 21%), and received longer TB treatment (9.9 months vs. 8.8 months) compared to HIV-negative patients (p < .01 for all). HIV infection was not associated with final unfavorable outcomes in univariate [odds ratio (OR) = 1.86; confidence interval (95% CI) 0.99-3.49] or multivariate analysis (aOR = 1.13; 95% CI 0.52-2.39) (p ≥ .05 for both). While HIV infection was not associated with final unfavorable TB outcomes, TB/HIV coinfected patients had more complex treatment course underscoring the importance of maintaining resources and expertise to treat coinfected patients in our and similar settings.