Declines in the utilization of hospital-based care during COVID-19 pandemic.

The disruptions of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic impacted the delivery and utilization of healthcare services with potential long-term implications for population health and the hospital workforce. Using electronic health record data from over 700 US acute care hospitals, we documented changes in admissions to hospital service areas (inpatient, observation, emergency room [ER], and same-day surgery) during 2019-2020 and examined whether surges of COVID-19 hospitalizations corresponded with increased inpatient disease severity and death rate. We found that in 2020, hospitalizations declined by 50% in April, with greatest declines occurring in same-day surgery (-73%). The youngest patients (0-17) experienced largest declines in ER, observation, and same-day surgery admissions; inpatient admissions declined the most among the oldest patients (65+). Infectious disease admissions increased by 52%. The monthly measures of inpatient case mix index, length of stay, and non-COVID death rate were higher in all months in 2020 compared with respective months in 2019.

Evaluating Patient Adherence to Routine and Symptom Indicated Colonoscopies During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background and aims The COVID-19 pandemic has led to significant changes in healthcare delivery. In response to these changes, patients have increasingly reduced healthcare utilization in several ways, such as medication compliance, cancer screenings, and routine wellness appointments. This study aims to quantify patient adherence rates to routine and symptom indicated colonoscopies during the COVID-19 and to assess patient medication compliance and utilization of healthcare facilities. Methods A cross-sectional study was performed at a single-center internal medicine clinic from January 2021 to April 2021. A 28-item survey was administered to patients to evaluate for adherence rates to routine and symptom indicated colonoscopies. Patients were also evaluated for rates of healthcare facility usage and medication compliance. Results Among 103 participants, 30.8% of patients who were due for routine colonoscopy either missed, refused, or rescheduled, while 16.7% of patients did so for symptom indicated colonoscopies. Nearly all respondents (94.2%) reported no change to medication compliance when compared to pre-COVID. A significant portion (36.9%) of patients reported missing a healthcare appointment at some point during the pandemic, and of the respondents who felt sick enough to visit the emergency department, 23.1% decided not to go. Conclusions During the COVID-19 pandemic, patients are deferring colorectal cancer surveillance, reducing the usage of acute care facilities, and missing routine healthcare appointments. It is important for providers to address the risks and benefits of delaying colorectal cancer screenings as well as identify physical and psychosocial barriers to patient utilization of both acute and chronic healthcare facilities. As COVID-19 restrictions inevitably continue to ease, medical providers should be aware of these potential lapses in cancer screenings and healthcare visits and be vigilant in catching patients up on their preventative health screenings.

Trends in antifungal use in US hospitals, 2006-12.

Background: Although trends in antibiotic use have been characterized, less is known about antifungal use. Data on antifungal use are important for understanding practice patterns, assessing emergence of antifungal resistance and developing antifungal stewardship programmes. We estimated national trends in inpatient antifungal use in the USA. Methods: Using billing data for antifungals from the Truven Health MarketScan® Hospital Drug Database during 2006-12, we estimated the proportion of discharges at which antifungals were given and days of therapy (DOT)/1000 patient days (PDs) by antifungal drug type, year, patient and facility characteristics. We created national estimates using weights generated from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services data and assessed trends over time. Results: Overall, 2.7% of all inpatients and 7.7% of those in ICUs received antifungals. The estimated DOT/1000 PDs for any antifungal was 35.0 for all inpatients and 73.7 for ICU patients. Azoles accounted for 80% of all antifungal use (28.5/1000 PDs), followed by echinocandins (5.0/1000 PDs). By multivariable trend analysis, DOT/1000 PDs for azoles (-21%) and polyenes (-47%) decreased between 2006 and 2012, whereas echinocandins increased 11% during 2006-10 and declined after 2011. Unspecified septicaemia, HIV and antineoplastic therapy were among the top primary diagnosis codes for patients who received antifungals. Conclusions: Antifungals were most frequently used in ICU settings and fluconazole accounted for a large, but declining, proportion of antifungal use. Antifungal stewardship efforts may have the most impact if focused in ICUs, among certain patient groups (e.g. HIV and malignancy) and on stopping empirical antifungal therapy for unspecified sepsis when not indicated.

The cost-benefit of federal investment in preventing Clostridium difficile infections through the use of a multifaceted infection control and antimicrobial stewardship program.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the potential epidemiologic and economic value of the implementation of a multifaceted Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) control program at US acute care hospitals DESIGN: Markov model with a 5-year time horizon PARTICIPANTS: Patients whose data were used in our simulations were limited to hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries ≥65 years old. BACKGROUND: CDI is an important public health problem with substantial associated morbidity, mortality, and cost. Multifaceted national prevention efforts in the United Kingdom, including antimicrobial stewardship, patient isolation, hand hygiene, environmental cleaning and disinfection, and audit, resulted in a 59% reduction in CDI cases reported from 2008 to 2012. METHODS: Our analysis was conducted from the federal perspective. The intervention we modeled included the following components: antimicrobial stewardship utilizing the Antimicrobial Use and Resistance module of the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN), use of contact precautions, and enhanced environmental cleaning. We parameterized our model using data from CDC surveillance systems, the AHRQ Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, and literature reviews. To address uncertainty in our parameter estimates, we conducted sensitivity analyses for intervention effectiveness and cost, expenditures by other federal partners, and discount rate. Each simulation represented a cohort of 1,000 hospitalized patients over 1,000 trials. RESULTS In our base case scenario with 50% intervention effectiveness, we estimated that 509,000 CDI cases and 82,000 CDI-attributable deaths would be prevented over a 5-year time horizon. Nationally, the cost savings across all hospitalizations would be $2.5 billion (95% credible interval: $1.2 billion to $4.0 billion). CONCLUSIONS: The potential benefits of a multifaceted national CDI prevention program are sizeable from the federal perspective.

Activity of commonly used antimicrobial prophylaxis regimens against pathogens causing coronary artery bypass graft and arthroplasty surgical site infections in the United States, 2006-2009.

BACKGROUND: Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) and primary arthroplasty surgical site infection (SSI) rates are declining slower than other healthcare-associated infection rates. We examined antimicrobial prophylaxis (AMP) regimens used for these operations and compared their spectrum of activity against reported SSI pathogens. METHODS: Pathogen distributions of CABG and hip/knee arthroplasty complex SSIs (deep and organ/space) reported to the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) from 2006 through 2009 and AMP regimens (same procedures and time period) reported to the Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) were analyzed. Regimens were categorized as standard (cefazolin or cefuroxime), ß-lactam allergy (vancomycin or clindamycin with or without an aminoglycoside), and extended spectrum (vancomycin and/or an aminoglycoside with cefazolin or cefuroxime). AMP activity of each regimen was predicted on the basis of pathogen susceptibility reports and published spectra of antimicrobial activity. RESULTS: There were 6,263 CABG and arthroplasty complex SSIs reported (680,489 procedures; 880 NHSN hospitals). Among 6,574 pathogens reported, methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (23%), methicillin-resistant S. aureus (18%), coagulase-negative staphylococci (17%), and Enterococcus species (7%) were most common. AMP regimens for 2,435,703 CABG and arthroplasty procedures from 3,330 SCIP hospitals were analyzed. The proportion of pathogens predictably susceptible to standard (used in 75% of procedures), ß-lactam (12%), and extended-spectrum (8%) regimens was 41%-45%, 47%-96%, and 81%-96%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Standard AMP, used in three-quarters of CABG and primary arthroplasty procedures, has inadequate activity against more than half of SSI pathogens reported. Alternative strategies may be needed to prevent SSIs caused by pathogens resistant to standard AMP regimens.

Hand hygiene practices after brief encounters with patients: an important opportunity for prevention.

OBJECTIVE: To identify characteristics of encounters between healthcare workers (HCWs) and patients that correlated with hand hygiene adherence among HCWs. DESIGN: Observational study. SETTING: Intensive care unit in a Veterans Affairs hospital. PARTICIPANTS: HCWs. RESULTS: There were 767 patient encounters observed (48.6% involved nurses, 20.6% involved physicians, and 30.8% involved other HCWs); 39.8% of encounters involved patients placed under contact precautions. HCW contact with either the patient or surfaces in the patient's environment occurred during all encounters; direct patient contact occurred during 439 encounters (57.4%), and contact with environmental surfaces occurred during 710 encounters (92.6%). The median duration of encounters was 2 minutes (range, <1 to 51 minutes); 33.6% of encounters lasted 1 minute or less, with no significant occupation-associated differences in the median duration of encounters. Adherence with hand hygiene practices was correlated with the duration of the encounter, with overall adherences of 30.0% after encounters of < or =1 minute, 43.4% after encounters of >1 to < or =2 minutes, 51.1% after encounters of >3 to < or =5 minutes, and 64.9% after encounters of >5 minutes (P<.001 by the chi (2) for trend). In multivariate analyses, longer encounter duration, contact precautions status, patient contact, and nursing occupation were independently associated with adherence to hand hygiene recommendations. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, adherence to hand hygiene practices was lowest after brief patient encounters (i.e., < 2 minutes). Brief encounters accounted for a substantial proportion of all observed encounters, and opportunities for hand contamination occurred during all brief encounters. Therefore, improving adherence after brief encounters may have an important overall impact on the transmission of healthcare-associated pathogens and may deserve special emphasis in the design of programs to promote adherence to hand hygiene practices.

Unnecessary use of central venous catheters: the need to look outside the intensive care unit.

We developed criteria for justifiable CVC use and evaluated CVC use in a public hospital. Unjustified CVC-days were more common for non-ICU patients compared with ICU patients. Also, insertion-site dressings were less likely to be intact on non-ICU patients. Interventions to reduce CVC-associated bloodstream infections should include non-ICU patients.

Paradoxical recurrent meningitis following therapy of cryptococcal meningitis: an immune reconstitution syndrome after initiation of highly active antiretroviral therapy.

We report a case of paradoxical recurrent meningitis in response to initiation of highly active antiretroviral therapy in a patient receiving maintenance fluconazole for a previous diagnosis of cryptococcal meningitis. We describe the unusual radiographic and histopathologic findings which are consistent with an immune reconstitution induced paradoxical inflammatory response to residual cryptococcal infection.