Search

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to describe and evaluate the impact of the participation of an antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP) pharmacist in microbiology rounds at our institution.Methods: This single-center retrospective descriptive study included inpatient and ambulatory adults (≥18 years) with a susceptibility request reviewed during microbiology rounds between October 2018 and March 2019. In October 2018, multidisciplinary telephone microbiology rounds were initiated with the medical directors of the clinical microbiology laboratory and ASP pharmacist to review susceptibility requests. Numbers and types of interventions made by an ASP pharmacist and potential benefits were recorded and analyzed.Results: Sixty-seven susceptibility requests were reviewed by an ASP pharmacist, of which 83.6% were inpatient. An ASP pharmacist completed chart reviews for 92.5% of requests and contacted the requester or primary team 74.6% of the time. About half (47.8%) of susceptibility requests were approved, and only 65.2% of requests from an infectious diseases provider were approved (P = .039). The most frequent potential benefits of the intervention included preventing unnecessary susceptibility testing (47.8%), improving clinician understanding (40.3%), and preventing treatment of a culture result deemed as a contaminant (19.4%).Conclusions: ASP pharmacists are uniquely accessible and able to assist with preventing unnecessary susceptibility testing, optimizing antimicrobial therapy, and providing education to other health care professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The increased emphasis on pneumonia-related performance measures and patient outcomes has led hospitals to implement multifaceted approaches to quickly identify patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), start timely therapy and reduce readmission. However, there has been minimal focus on duration of therapy (DOT) and patients often receive prolonged antibiotic courses. The IDSA and American Thoracic Society (IDSA/ATS) CAP guidelines recommend 5 days of therapy for clinically stable patients that quickly defervesce and stewardship teams are well positioned to influence prescribing practices.Objectives: Determine the impact of a prospective stewardship intervention on total antibiotic DOT and associated clinical outcomes in hospitalized patients with CAP.Methods: This multicentre, quasi-experimental study evaluated three concurrent interventions over a 6 month period to promote appropriate DOT. All centres updated institutional CAP guidelines to promote IDSA/ATS-concordant DOT, provided education and conducted daily audit and feedback with intervention to provide patient-specific DOT recommendations.Results: A total of 600 patients with CAP were included (307 in the historical control group and 293 in the stewardship intervention group). The stewardship intervention increased compliance with DOT recommendations (42% versus 5.6%, P < 0.001) and reduced the median DOT per patient (6 versus 9 days, P < 0.001). Clinical outcomes, including mortality, readmission with pneumonia, presentation to the emergency centre/clinic with pneumonia and incidence of Clostridium difficile infection within 30 days of discharge, were not different between groups.Conclusions: This multicentre evaluation of a stewardship intervention in hospitalized CAP patients reduced the total antibiotic DOT and increased guideline-concordant DOT without adversely affecting patient outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrating rapid organism identification with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight and real-time review and intervention by an antimicrobial stewardship team was associated with decreased mortality, decreased length of intensive care unit stay, improved time to effective and optimal antibiotic therapy, and decreased recurrent bacteremia.Background. Integration of rapid diagnostic testing via matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) with antimicrobial stewardship team (AST) intervention has the potential for early organism identification, customization of antibiotic therapy, and improvement in patient outcomes. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of this combined approach on clinical and antimicrobial therapy–related outcomes in patients with bloodstream infections.Methods. A pre–post quasi-experimental study was conducted to analyze the impact of MALDI-TOF with AST intervention in patients with bloodstream infections. The AST provided evidence-based antibiotic recommendations after receiving real-time notification following blood culture Gram stain, organism identification, and antimicrobial susceptibilities. Outcomes were compared to a historic control group.Results. A total of 501 patients with bacteremia or candidemia were included in the final analysis: 245 patients in the intervention group and 256 patients in the preintervention group. MALDI-TOF with AST intervention decreased time to organism identification (84.0 vs 55.9 hours, P < .001), and improved time to effective antibiotic therapy (30.1 vs 20.4 hours, P = .021) and optimal antibiotic therapy (90.3 vs 47.3 hours, P < .001). Mortality (20.3% vs 14.5%), length of intensive care unit stay (14.9 vs 8.3 days) and recurrent bacteremia (5.9% vs 2.0%) were lower in the intervention group on univariate analysis, and acceptance of an AST intervention was associated with a trend toward reduced mortality on multivariable analysis (odds ratio, 0.55, P = .075).Conclusion. MALDI-TOF with AST intervention decreased time to organism identification and time to effective and optimal antibiotic therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background The "SPICE organisms" intrinsically produce low levels of a chromosomally encoded β-lactamase enzyme, AmpC. When SPICE organisms are exposed to certain antimicrobial agents, they can select for de-repressed mutants and induce the AmpC gene. No study to date has determined the optimal treatment of lower inoculum infections such as urinary tract infections (UTIs) caused by SPICE organisms. Methods This study is a single-center, retrospective observational review of adult hospitalized patients with a UTI caused by a SPICE organism from November 2012 to November 2015. The objective of this study was to compare outcomes amongst patients with UTIs caused by select SPICE organisms treated with drugs susceptible to AmpC hydrolysis (penicillins, cephalosporins except cefepime, and monobactams) vs. drugs stable against AmpC (carbapenems, cefepime, and non-β-lactam agents). The primary outcome was clinical response, defined as resolution of signs and symptoms of UTI without requiring escalation of antimicrobial therapy after 48 hours of therapy initiation. Secondary outcomes include 30-day infection-related readmission, 30-day infection recurrence rate, 30-day all-cause mortality, and length of hospital stay. Patients with resistance to ceftriaxone were reviewed for β-lactam exposure (≥7 days) within the last month. Results One-hundred 56 patients were identified. Clinical response, 30-day infection-related readmission, 30-day infection recurrence, 30-day mortality rates, and median length of hospital stay were similar between the AmpC stable and AmpC susceptible groups (Table 1). Notably, 39.1% of patients with ceftriaxone resistance reported had recent β-lactam exposure vs. only 11.6% of patients without ceftriaxone resistance (P = 0.0028). Conclusion Based our data, there does not appear to be a difference in clinical response, 30-day-related readmission, 30-day infection recurrence, 30-day all-cause mortality rates, or length of stay in patients with UTIs treated with AmpC stable and AmpC susceptible agents. AmpC induction can be seen with at least 7 days of β-lactam use in the past 30 days as demonstrated by more frequent use of recent β-lactam agents in those with ceftriaxone resistance detected. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Microbiology rounds is an area for antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASP) to potentially intervene on antimicrobial prescribing in both the inpatient and outpatient settings. The purpose of this study was to describe and evaluate the impact of ASP pharmacist participation in microbiology rounds. Methods This was a single-center retrospective descriptive study including inpatient and ambulatory adults (≥18 years) with a susceptibility request requiring review during microbiology rounds between October 2018 and 3/2019. During daily microbiology rounds, susceptibility or workup requests were reviewed with the multidisciplinary microbiology team. The ASP pharmacist was called for their clinical expertise in assessing complicated or nonstandard susceptibility requests. Number and types of interventions made by ASP pharmacist were recorded (e.g. approval rate, education, ASP referral, ID consult referral). Additionally, number and types of intervention outcomes (unnecessary susceptibility prevented, optimized susceptibility request, treatment recommendation, improved clinician understanding, etc.) were analyzed. Results There were 66 susceptibility requests reviewed by an ASP pharmacist from October 2018 to 3/2019, of which 84.8% were inpatient. An ID provider was the requestor for 35% of requests. ASP pharmacists completed chart reviews for 92.4% of patients and contacted the requester/primary team 72.7% of the time. Thirty-three (50%) susceptibility requests were approved and, notably, 65.2% of requests from an ID provider were approved. Intervention rates for education provided, ASP referral, and ID consult referral were 50%, 1%, and 7%, respectively. ASP pharmacists were able to impact multiple intervention outcomes, including preventing unnecessary susceptibility requests (45.5%) and improving clinician understanding (39.4%) (Table 1). Conclusion ASP pharmacists are an important part of the microbiology team and are able to use their clinical expertise to help approve or deny susceptibility requests, make potential recommendations to optimize antimicrobial therapy, and provide education to other healthcare professionals. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]