Impact of an outpatient parenteral antimicrobial treatment (OPAT) as part of a paediatric-specific PROA program.

INTRODUCTION: Outpatient parenteral antimicrobial treatment (OPAT) is an alternative to in-patient care in carefully selected patients. This study presents a self-administration OPAT program integrated within the pediatric antibiotic stewardship program (ASP) in a pediatric tertiary care center. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Descriptive, retrospective and unicentric study. Data from all patients under 20 years of age who were prescribed treatment by a pediatric unit during 2019 and 2020 were included. Data regarding number of saved beds and estimating the opportunity cost of the OPAT program for the hospital were analyzed. RESULTS: Fifty-seven patients received 106 episodes of treatment. Favorable clinical outcome occurred in 74.5% of the episodes. The main cause of premature interruption was unfavorable clinical outcome of the infection (37.1%). A total of 2.62 beds/day were saved, resulting in an economic benefit of 1,069,963 €. CONCLUSION: A self-administration OPAT program integrated within the pediatric ASP has proven to be safe and effective and provides economic benefits.