Assessment of Changes in Visits and Antibiotic Prescribing During the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Safety Program for Improving Antibiotic Use and the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Importance: The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Safety Program for Improving Antibiotic Use aimed to improve antibiotic prescribing in ambulatory care practices by engaging clinicians and staff to incorporate antibiotic stewardship into practice culture, communication, and decision-making. Little is known about implementation of antibiotic stewardship in ambulatory care practices. Objective: To examine changes in visits and antibiotic prescribing during the AHRQ Safety Program. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study evaluated a quality improvement intervention in ambulatory care throughout the US in 389 ambulatory care practices from December 1, 2019, to November 30, 2020. Exposures: The AHRQ Safety Program used webinars, audio presentations, educational tools, and office hours to engage stewardship leaders and clinical staff to address attitudes and cultures that challenge judicious antibiotic prescribing and incorporate best practices for the management of common infections. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome of the Safety Program was antibiotic prescriptions per 100 acute respiratory infection (ARI) visits. Data on total visits and ARI visits were also collected. The number of visits and prescribing rates from baseline (September 1, 2019) to completion of the program (November 30, 2020) were compared. Results: Of 467 practices enrolled, 389 (83%) completed the Safety Program; of these, 292 (75%) submitted complete data with 6 590 485 visits to 5483 clinicians. Participants included 82 (28%) primary care practices, 103 (35%) urgent care practices, 34 (12%) federally supported practices, 39 (13%) pediatric urgent care practices, 21 (7%) pediatric-only practices, and 14 (5%) other practice types. Visits per practice per month decreased from a mean of 1624 (95% CI, 1317-1931) at baseline to a nadir of 906 (95% CI, 702-1111) early in the COVID-19 pandemic (April 2020), and were 1797 (95% CI, 1510-2084) at the end of the program. Total antibiotic prescribing decreased from 18.2% of visits at baseline to 9.5% at completion of the program (-8.7%; 95% CI, -9.9% to -7.6%). Acute respiratory infection visits per practice per month decreased from baseline (n = 321) to a nadir of 76 early in the pandemic (May 2020) and gradually increased through completion of the program (n = 239). Antibiotic prescribing for ARIs decreased from 39.2% at baseline to 24.7% at completion of the program (-14.5%; 95% CI, -16.8% to -12.2%). Conclusions and Relevance: In this study of US ambulatory practices that participated in the AHRQ Safety Program, significant reductions in the rates of overall and ARI-related antibiotic prescribing were noted, despite normalization of clinic visits by completion of the program. The forthcoming AHRQ Safety Program content may have utility in ambulatory practices across the US.

Strategies to prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia, ventilator-associated events, and nonventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia in acute-care hospitals: 2022 Update.

The purpose of this document is to highlight practical recommendations to assist acute care hospitals to prioritize and implement strategies to prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), ventilator-associated events (VAE), and non-ventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia (NV-HAP) in adults, children, and neonates. This document updates the Strategies to Prevent Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia in Acute Care Hospitals published in 2014. This expert guidance document is sponsored by the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology (SHEA), and is the product of a collaborative effort led by SHEA, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the American Hospital Association, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, and The Joint Commission, with major contributions from representatives of a number of organizations and societies with content expertise.

Implementation of an Antibiotic Stewardship Program in Long-term Care Facilities Across the US.

IMPORTANCE: Antibiotic overuse in long-term care (LTC) is common, prompting calls for antibiotic stewardship programs (ASPs) designed for specific use in these settings. The optimal approach to establish robust, sustainable ASPs in LTC facilities is unknown. OBJECTIVES: To determine if the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Safety Program for Improving Antibiotic Use, an educational initiative to establish ASPs focusing on patient safety, is associated with reductions in antibiotic use in LTC settings. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This quality improvement study including 439 LTC facilities in the US assessed antibiotic therapy data following a pragmatic quality-improvement program, which was implemented to assist facilities in establishing ASPs and with antibiotic decision-making. Training was conducted between December 2018 and November 2019. Data were analyzed from January 2019 to December 2019. INTERVENTIONS: Fifteen webinars occurred over 12 months (December 2018 to November 2019), accompanied by additional tools, activities, posters, and pocket cards. All clinical staff were encouraged to participate. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary outcome was antibiotic starts per 1000 resident-days. Secondary outcomes included days of antibiotic therapy (DOT) per 1000 resident-days, the number of urine cultures per 1000 resident-days, and Clostridioides difficile laboratory-identified events per 10 000 resident-days. All outcomes compared data from the baseline (January-February 2019) to the completion of the program (November-December 2019). Generalized linear mixed models with random intercepts at the site level assessed changes over time. RESULTS: Of a total 523 eligible LTC facilities, 439 (83.9%) completed the safety program. The mean difference for antibiotic starts from baseline to study completion per 1000 resident-days was -0.41 (95% CI, -0.76 to -0.07; P = .02), with fluoroquinolones showing the greatest decrease at -0.21 starts per 1000 resident-days (95% CI, -0.35 to -0.08; P = .002). The mean difference for antibiotic DOT per 1000 resident-days was not significant (-3.05; 95% CI, -6.34 to 0.23; P = .07). Reductions in antibiotic starts and use were greater in facilities with greater program engagement (as measured by webinar attendance). While antibiotic starts and DOT in these facilities decreased by 1.12 per 1000 resident-days (95% CI, -1.75 to -0.49; P < .001) and 9.97 per 1000 resident-days (95% CI, -15.4 to -4.6; P < .001), respectively, no significant reductions occurred in low engagement facilities. Urine cultures per 1000 resident-days decreased by 0.38 (95% CI, -0.61 to -0.15; P = .001). There was no significant change in facility-onset C difficile laboratory-identified events. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Participation in the AHRQ safety program was associated with the development of ASPs that actively engaged clinical staff in the decision-making processes around antibiotic prescriptions in participating LTC facilities. The reduction in antibiotic DOT and starts, which was more pronounced in more engaged facilities, indicates that implementation of this multifaceted program may support successful ASPs in LTC settings.

Association of a Safety Program for Improving Antibiotic Use With Antibiotic Use and Hospital-Onset Clostridioides difficile Infection Rates Among US Hospitals.

Importance: Regulatory agencies and professional organizations recommend antibiotic stewardship programs (ASPs) in US hospitals. The optimal approach to establish robust, sustainable ASPs across diverse hospitals is unknown. Objective: To assess whether the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Safety Program for Improving Antibiotic Use is associated with reductions in antibiotic use across US hospitals. Design, Setting, and Participants: A pragmatic quality improvement program was conducted and evaluated over a 1-year period in US hospitals. A total of 437 hospitals were enrolled. The study was conducted from December 1, 2017, to November 30, 2018. Data analysis was performed from March 1 to October 31, 2019. Interventions: The Safety Program assisted hospitals with establishing ASPs and worked with frontline clinicians to improve their antibiotic decision-making. All clinical staff (eg, clinicians, pharmacists, and nurses) were encouraged to participate. Seventeen webinars occurred over 12 months, accompanied by additional durable educational content. Topics focused on establishing ASPs, the science of safety, improving teamwork and communication, and best practices for the diagnosis and management of infectious processes. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was overall antibiotic use (days of antibiotic therapy [DOT] per 1000 patient days [PD]) comparing the beginning (January-February 2018) and end (November-December 2018) of the Safety Program. Data analysis occurred using linear mixed models with random hospital unit effects. Antibiotic use from 614 hospitals in the Premier Healthcare Database from the same period was analyzed to evaluate contemporary US antibiotic trends. Quarterly hospital-onset Clostridioides difficile laboratory-identified events per 10 000 PD were a secondary outcome. Results: Of the 437 hospitals enrolled, 402 (92%) remained in the program until its completion, including 28 (7%) academic medical centers, 122 (30%) midlevel teaching hospitals, 167 (42%) community hospitals, and 85 (21%) critical access hospitals. Adherence to key components of ASPs (ie, interventions before and after prescription of antibiotics, availability of local antibiotic guidelines, ASP leads with dedicated salary support, and quarterly reporting of antibiotic use) improved from 8% to 74% over the 1-year period (P < .01). Antibiotic use decreased by 30.3 DOT per 1000 PD (95% CI, -52.6 to -8.0 DOT; P = .008). Similar changes in antibiotic use were not observed in the Premier Healthcare Database. The incidence rate of hospital-onset C difficile laboratory-identified events decreased by 19.5% (95% CI, -33.5% to -2.4%; P = .03). Conclusions and Relevance: The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Safety Program appeared to enable diverse hospitals to establish ASPs and teach frontline clinicians to self-steward their antibiotic use. Safety Program content is publicly available.

Reducing Three Infections Across Cardiac Surgery Programs: A Multisite Cross-Unit Collaboration.

Using a pre-post design, this study examined the impact of a multifaceted program to simultaneously improve 3 health care-associated infections and patient safety culture throughout the cardiac surgery service line in 11 hospitals. Interventions included the Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program to improve safety culture and evidence-based bundles to prevent central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI), surgical site infection (SSI), and ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). CLABSIs and SSIs showed a downward trend over 2 years, then the rates returned to levels similar to baseline in the third year. VAP rate changes were difficult to interpret because of the VAP definition change. Patient safety culture domain "hospital management support" showed significant improvement, but feedback and communication about errors and staffing declined. Simultaneous implementation of multiple interventions across units is challenging. The findings highlight the importance of sustainment efforts and suggest future work should anticipate both positive and negative change in safety culture dimensions.

The inconvincible patient: how clinicians perceive demand for antibiotics in the outpatient setting.

BACKGROUND: Perceived patient demand for antibiotics drives unnecessary antibiotic prescribing in outpatient settings, but little is known about how clinicians experience this demand or how this perceived demand shapes their decision-making. OBJECTIVE: To identify how clinicians perceive patient demand for antibiotics and the way these perceptions stimulate unnecessary prescribing. METHODS: Qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with clinicians in outpatient settings who prescribe antibiotics. Interviews were analyzed using conventional and directed content analysis. RESULTS: Interviews were conducted with 25 clinicians from nine practices across three states. Patient demand was the most common reason respondents provided for why they prescribed non-indicated antibiotics. Three related factors motivated clinically unnecessary antibiotic use in the face of perceived patient demand: (i) clinicians want their patients to regard clinical visits as valuable and believe that an antibiotic prescription demonstrates value; (ii) clinicians want to avoid negative repercussions of denying antibiotics, including reduced income, damage to their reputation, emotional exhaustion, and degraded relationships with patients; (iii) clinicians believed that certain patients are impossible to satisfy without an antibiotic prescription and felt that efforts to refuse antibiotics to such patients wastes time and invites the aforementioned negative repercussions. Clinicians in urgent care settings were especially likely to describe being motivated by these factors. CONCLUSION: Interventions to improve antibiotic use in the outpatient setting must address clinicians' concerns about providing value for their patients, fear of negative repercussions from denying antibiotics, and the approach to inconvincible patients.

Using a society database to evaluate a patient safety collaborative: the Cardiovascular Surgical Translational Study.

AIM: To assess the utility of using external databases for quality improvement (QI) evaluations in the context of an innovative QI collaborative aimed to reduce three infections and improve patient safety across the cardiac surgery service line. METHODS: We compared changes in each outcome between 15 intervention hospitals (infection reduction protocols plus safety culture intervention) and 52 propensity score-matched hospitals (feedback only). RESULTS: Improvement trends in several outcomes among the intervention hospitals were not statistically different from those in comparison hospitals. CONCLUSION: Using external databases such as those of professional societies may permit comparative effectiveness assessment by providing concurrent comparison groups, additional outcome measures and longer follow-up. This can better inform evaluation of continuous QI in healthcare organizations.

Two-State Collaborative Study of a Multifaceted Intervention to Decrease Ventilator-Associated Events.

OBJECTIVES: Ventilator-associated events are associated with increased mortality, prolonged mechanical ventilation, and longer ICU stay. Given strong national interest in improving ventilated patient care, the National Institute of Health and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality funded a two-state collaborative to reduce ventilator-associated events. We describe the collaborative's impact on ventilator-associated event rates in 56 ICUs. DESIGN: Longitudinal quasi-experimental study. SETTING: Fifty-six ICUs at 38 hospitals in Maryland and Pennsylvania from October 2012 to March 2015. INTERVENTIONS: We organized a multifaceted intervention to improve adherence with evidence-based practices, unit teamwork, and safety culture. Evidence-based interventions promoted by the collaborative included head-of-bed elevation, use of subglottic secretion drainage endotracheal tubes, oral care, chlorhexidine mouth care, and daily spontaneous awakening and breathing trials. Each unit established a multidisciplinary quality improvement team. We coached teams to establish comprehensive unit-based safety programs through monthly teleconferences. Data were collected on rounds using a common tool and entered into a Web-based portal. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: ICUs reported 69,417 ventilated patient-days of intervention compliance observations and 1,022 unit-months of ventilator-associated event data. Compliance with all evidence-based interventions improved over the course of the collaborative. The quarterly mean ventilator-associated event rate significantly decreased from 7.34 to 4.58 cases per 1,000 ventilator-days after 24 months of implementation (p = 0.007). During the same time period, infection-related ventilator-associated complication and possible and probable ventilator-associated pneumonia rates decreased from 3.15 to 1.56 and 1.41 to 0.31 cases per 1,000 ventilator-days (p = 0.018, p = 0.012), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: A multifaceted intervention was associated with improved compliance with evidence-based interventions and decreases in ventilator-associated event, infection-related ventilator-associated complication, and probable ventilator-associated pneumonia. Our study is the largest to date affirming that best practices can prevent ventilator-associated events.

Evaluating the Accuracy of Sampling Strategies for Estimation of Compliance Rate for Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia Process Measures.

BACKGROUND Measuring processes of care performance rates is an invaluable tool for quality improvement; however, collecting daily process measure data is time-consuming and burdensome. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the accuracy of sampling strategies to estimate monthly compliance rates with ventilator-associated pneumonia prevention measures. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS A total of 37 intensive care units affiliated with 29 hospitals participating in a 2-state 35-month ventilator-associated pneumonia prevention collaborative. Analysis was limited to 325 unit-months with complete data entry rates. METHODS We calculated unit-month level actual and sample monthly compliance rates for 6 ventilator-associated pneumonia prevention measures, using 4 sampling strategies: sample 1 day per month, sample 1 day per week, sample 7 consecutive days per month, and sample 7 consecutive days per month plus additional consecutive days as necessary to obtain at least 30 ventilator-days for that month whenever possible. We compared sample versus actual rates using paired t test and χ2 test. RESULTS Mean sampling accuracy ranged 84%-97% for 1 day per month, 91%-98% for 1 day per week, 92%-98% for 7 consecutive days per month, and 96%-99% for 7 consecutive days with at least 30 days per month if possible. The most accurate sampling strategy was to sample 7 consecutive days with at least 30 ventilator-days per month if possible. With this strategy, sample rates were within 10% of actual rates in 88%-99% of unit-months and within 5% of actual rates in 74%-97% of unit-months. CONCLUSION Sampling process measures intermittently rather than continually can yield accurate estimates of process measure performance rates. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2016;37:1037-1043.

A systematic approach for developing a ventilator-associated pneumonia prevention bundle.

BACKGROUND: Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is among the most common type of health care-associated infection in the intensive care unit and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Existing VAP prevention intervention bundles vary widely on the interventions included and in the approaches used to develop these bundles. The objective of this study was to develop a new VAP prevention bundle using a systematic approach that elicits clinician perceptions on which interventions are most important and feasible to implement. METHODS: We identified potential interventions to include through a review of current guidelines and literature. We implemented a 2-step modified Delphi method to gain consensus on the final list of interventions. An interdisciplinary group of clinical experts participated in the Delphi process, which was guided by a technical expert panel. RESULTS: We identified 65 possible interventions. Through the Delphi method, we narrowed that list to 19 interventions that included 5 process and 14 structural measures. CONCLUSIONS: We described a structured approach for developing a new VAP prevention bundle. Obtaining clinician input on what interventions to include increases the likelihood that providers will adhere to the bundle.

Measurement of implementation components and contextual factors in a two-state healthcare quality initiative to reduce ventilator-associated pneumonia.

OBJECTIVE: To develop and field test an implementation assessment tool for assessing progress of hospital units in implementing improvements for the prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in a two-state collaborative, including data on actions implemented by participating teams and contextual factors that may influence their efforts. Using the data collected, learn how implementation actions can be improved and analyze effects of implementation progress on outcome measures. DESIGN: We developed the tool as an interview protocol that included quantitative and qualitative items addressing actions on the Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) and clinical interventions for use in guiding data collection via telephone interviews. SETTING: We conducted interviews with leaders of improvement teams from units participating in the two-state VAP prevention initiative. METHODS: We collected data from 43 hospital units as they implemented actions for the VAP initiative and performed descriptive analyzes of the data with comparisons across the 2 states. RESULTS: Early in the VAP prevention initiative, most units had made only moderate progress overall in using many of the CUSP actions known to support their improvement processes. For contextual factors, a relatively small number of barriers were found to have important negative effects on implementation progress (in particular, barriers related to workload and time issues). We modified coaching provided to the unit teams to reinforce training in weak spots that the interviews identified. CONCLUSION: These assessments provided important new knowledge regarding the implementation science of quality improvement projects, including feedback during implementation, and give a better understanding of which factors most affect implementation.

Strategies to enhance adoption of ventilator-associated pneumonia prevention interventions: a systematic literature review.

BACKGROUND: Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is among the most lethal of all healthcare-associated infections. Guidelines summarize interventions to prevent VAP, but translating recommendations into practice is an art unto itself. OBJECTIVE: Summarize strategies to enhance adoption of VAP prevention interventions. METHODS: We conducted a systematic literature review of articles in the MEDLINE database published between 2002 and 2012. We selected articles on the basis of specific inclusion criteria. We used structured forms to abstract implementation strategies and inserted them into the "engage, educate, execute, and evaluate" framework. RESULTS: Twenty-seven articles met our inclusion criteria. Engagement strategies included multidisciplinary teamwork, involvement of local champions, and networking among peers. Educational strategies included training sessions and developing succinct summaries of the evidence. Execution strategies included standardization of care processes and building redundancies into routine care. Evaluation strategies included measuring performance and providing feedback to staff. CONCLUSION: We summarized and organized practical implementation strategies in a framework to enhance adoption of recommended evidence-based practices. We believe this work fills an important void in most clinical practice guidelines, and broad use of these strategies may expedite VAP reduction efforts.

Reappraisal of routine oral care with chlorhexidine gluconate for patients receiving mechanical ventilation: systematic review and meta-analysis.

IMPORTANCE: Regular oral care with chlorhexidine gluconate is standard of care for patients receiving mechanical ventilation in most hospitals. This policy is predicated on meta-analyses suggesting decreased risk of ventilator-associated pneumonia, but these meta-analyses may be misleading because of lack of distinction between cardiac surgery and non-cardiac surgery studies, conflation of open-label vs double-blind investigations, and insufficient emphasis on patient-centered outcomes such as duration of mechanical ventilation, length of stay, and mortality. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of routine oral care with chlorhexidine on patient-centered outcomes in patients receiving mechanical ventilation. DATA SOURCES: PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, and Web of Science from inception until July 2013 without limits on date or language. STUDY SELECTION: Randomized clinical trials comparing chlorhexidine vs placebo in adults receiving mechanical ventilation. Of 171 unique citations, 16 studies including 3630 patients met inclusion criteria. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS: Eligible trials were independently identified, evaluated for risk of bias, and extracted by 2 investigators. Differences were resolved by consensus. We stratified studies into cardiac surgery vs non-cardiac surgery and open-label vs double-blind investigations. Eligible studies were pooled using random-effects meta-analysis. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Ventilator-associated pneumonia, mortality, duration of mechanical ventilation, intensive care unit and hospital length of stay, antibiotic prescribing. RESULTS: There were fewer lower respiratory tract infections in cardiac surgery patients randomized to chlorhexidine (relative risk [RR], 0.56 [95% CI, 0.41-0.77]) but no significant difference in ventilator-associated pneumonia risk in double-blind studies of non-cardiac surgery patients (RR, 0.88 [95% CI, 0.66-1.16]). There was no significant mortality difference between chlorhexidine and placebo in cardiac surgery studies (RR, 0.88 [95% CI, 0.25-2.14]) and nonsignificantly increased mortality in non-cardiac surgery studies (RR, 1.13 [95% CI, 0.99-1.29]). There were no significant differences in mean duration of mechanical ventilation or intensive care length of stay. Data on hospital length of stay and antibiotic prescribing were limited. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Routine oral care with chlorhexidine prevents nosocomial pneumonia in cardiac surgery patients but may not decrease ventilator-associated pneumonia risk in non-cardiac surgery patients. Chlorhexidine use does not affect patient-centered outcomes in either population. Policies encouraging routine oral care with chlorhexidine for non-cardiac surgery patients merit reevaluation.

Ventilator-associated pneumonia: overdiagnosis and treatment are common in medical and surgical intensive care units.

OBJECTIVE: Diagnosing ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is difficult, and misdiagnosis can lead to unnecessary and prolonged antibiotic treatment. We sought to quantify and characterize unjustified antimicrobial use for VAP and identify risk factors for continuation of antibiotics in patients without VAP after 3 days. METHODS: Patients suspected of having VAP were identified in 6 adult intensive care units (ICUs) over 1 year. A multidisciplinary adjudication committee determined whether the ICU team's VAP diagnosis and therapy were justified, using clinical, microbiologic, and radiographic data at diagnosis and on day 3. Outcomes included the proportion of VAP events misdiagnosed as and treated for VAP on days 1 and 3 and risk factors for the continuation of antibiotics in patients without VAP after day 3. RESULTS: Two hundred thirty-one events were identified as possible VAP by the ICUs. On day 1, 135 (58.4%) of them were determined to not have VAP by the committee. Antibiotics were continued for 120 (76%) of 158 events without VAP on day 3. After adjusting for acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II score and requiring vasopressors on day 1, sputum culture collection on day 3 was significantly associated with antibiotic continuation in patients without VAP. Patients without VAP or other infection received 1,183 excess days of antibiotics during the study. CONCLUSIONS: Overdiagnosis and treatment of VAP was common in this study and led to 1,183 excess days of antibiotics in patients with no indication for antibiotics. Clinical differences between non-VAP patients who had antibiotics continued or discontinued were minimal, suggesting that clinician preferences and behaviors contribute to unnecessary prescribing.

An evaluation of ventilator-associated pneumonia process measure sampling strategies in a surgical ICU.

Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is common, lethal, and expensive. Little is known about optimal strategies to evaluate process measures for VAP prevention. The authors conducted a prospective study of different sampling strategies for evaluating head of bed (HOB) elevation and oral care. There was no significant difference between morning and evening shift HOB elevation compliance rates (P = .47). If oral care was performed at least once during a 12-hour shift, there was an 87% probability that it also was performed at least twice. If oral care was performed at least twice during a 12-hour shift, then there was a 93% probability that chlorhexidine oral care was performed at least once. The results of this study suggest that sampling HOB elevation twice as compared with once daily is unlikely to change the estimate of performance, oral care need not be frequently sampled, and high oral care compliance may predict chlorhexidine oral care compliance.

Distinguishing community-associated from hospital-associated Clostridium difficile infections in children: implications for public health surveillance.

BACKGROUND: Children are increasingly recognized as being at risk for C. difficile infection (CDI), even without prior exposure to antibiotics or the healthcare environment. We aimed to distinguish risk factors, clinical course, and outcomes between healthcare facility-associated (HA) and community-associated (CA) CDI. METHODS: This was a retrospective, observational cohort study conducted at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center, Baltimore, Maryland. All inpatients, aged ≥1 year, hospitalized from July 2003 to July 2012 and diagnosed with CDI based on clinical characteristics and confirmatory laboratory testing were included. The main outcome was CDI, categorized as HA-CDI, CA-CDI, and "indeterminate" (classified as disease onset in the community, 4-12 weeks from hospital discharge). RESULTS: Two hundred two pediatric inpatients were diagnosed with CDI, of whom 38 had CA-CDI, 144 had HA-CDI, and 20 had indeterminate CDI. Children with indeterminate CDI had baseline characteristics similar to those identified for HA-CDI. Children hospitalized with CA-CDI were less likely to have comorbidities (odds ratio [OR], 0.14; 95% confidence interval [CI], .03-.65; P = .013), to have been exposed to antibiotics (OR, 0.17; 95% CI, .07-.44; P < .001), or prior surgeries (OR, 0.03; 95% CI, .00-.24; P = .001), compared to children with HA-CDI. Compared with HA-CDI, children with CA-CDI had a trend toward more episodes of septic shock (P = .07), toxic megacolon (P = .04), and recurrences (P = .04). CONCLUSIONS: In a hospitalized cohort, CA-CDI is more often seen in previously healthy children without antibiotic exposure or comorbid conditions and has more frequent complications and recurrences compared to HA-CDI. For surveillance purposes, "indeterminate" CDI should be allocated to HA-CDI rather than CA-CDI.

Daily chlorhexidine bathing to reduce bacteraemia in critically ill children: a multicentre, cluster-randomised, crossover trial.

BACKGROUND: Bacteraemia is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in critically ill children. Our objective was to assess whether daily bathing in chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) compared with standard bathing practices would reduce bacteraemia in critically ill children. METHODS: In an unmasked, cluster-randomised, two-period crossover trial, ten paediatric intensive-care units at five hospitals in the USA were randomly assigned a daily bathing routine for admitted patients older than 2 months, either standard bathing practices or using a cloth impregnated with 2% CHG, for a 6-month period. Units switched to the alternative bathing method for a second 6-month period. 6482 admissions were screened for eligibility. The primary outcome was an episode of bacteraemia. We did intention-to-treat (ITT) and per-protocol (PP) analyses. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (identifier NCT00549393). FINDINGS: 1521 admitted patients were excluded because their length of stay was less than 2 days, and 14 refused to participate. 4947 admissions were eligible for analysis. In the ITT population, a non-significant reduction in incidence of bacteraemia was noted with CHG bathing (3·52 per 1000 days, 95% CI 2·64-4·61) compared with standard practices (4·93 per 1000 days, 3·91-6·15; adjusted incidence rate ratio [aIRR] 0·71, 95% CI 0·42-1·20). In the PP population, incidence of bacteraemia was lower in patients receiving CHG bathing (3·28 per 1000 days, 2·27-4·58) compared with standard practices (4·93 per 1000 days, 3·91-6·15; aIRR 0·64, 0·42-0·98). No serious study-related adverse events were recorded, and the incidence of CHG-associated skin reactions was 1·2 per 1000 days (95% CI 0·60-2·02). INTERPRETATION: Critically ill children receiving daily CHG bathing had a lower incidence of bacteraemia compared with those receiving a standard bathing routine. Furthermore, the treatment was well tolerated. FUNDING: Sage Products, US National Institutes of Health.

Evaluation of postprescription review and feedback as a method of promoting rational antimicrobial use: a multicenter intervention.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of postprescription review of broad-spectrum antimicrobial (study-ABX) agents on rates of antimicrobial use. DESIGN: Quasi-experimental before-after study. SETTING: Five academic medical centers. PATIENTS: Adults receiving at least 48 hours of study-ABX. METHODS: The baseline, intervention, and follow-up periods were 6 months each in 2 units at each of 5 sites. Adults receiving at least 48 hours of study-ABX entered the cohort as case-patients. During the intervention, infectious-diseases physicians reviewed the cases after 48 hours of study-ABX. The provider was contacted with alternative recommendations if antimicrobial use was considered to be unjustified on the basis of predetermined criteria. Acceptance rates were assessed 48 hours later. The primary outcome measure was days of study-ABX per 1,000 study-patient-days in the baseline and intervention periods. RESULTS: There were 1,265 patients in the baseline period and 1,163 patients in the intervention period. Study-ABX use decreased significantly during the intervention period at 2 sites: from 574.4 to 533.8 study-ABX days/1,000 patient-days (incidence rate ratio [IRR], 0.93; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.88-0.97; P = .002) at hospital B and from 615.6 to 514.4 study-ABX days/1,000 patient-days (IRR, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.79-0.88; P < .001) at hospital D. Both had established antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASP). Study-ABX use increased at 2 sites and stayed the same at 1 site. At all institutions combined, 390 of 1,429 (27.3%) study-ABX courses were assessed as unjustified; recommendations to modify or stop therapy were accepted for 260 (66.7%) of these courses. CONCLUSIONS: Postprescription review of study-ABX decreased antimicrobial utilization in some of the study hospitals and may be more effective when performed as part of an established ASP.