A pilot study of antibiotic cycling in the community hospital setting
UMass Chan Affiliations
Department of Medicine, Division of Preventive and Behavioral MedicineDocument Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2005-01-01Keywords
AdultAnti-Bacterial Agents
Bacteria
Bacterial Infections
Boston
Cohort Studies
Drug Costs
*Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial
Drug Utilization
Feasibility Studies
Guideline Adherence
Hospitals, Community
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Pilot Projects
Behavioral Disciplines and Activities
Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms
Community Health and Preventive Medicine
Preventive Medicine
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
OBJECTIVE: To assess the feasibility of a quarterly antibiotic cycling program at two community hospitals and to evaluate its safety and impact on antibiotic use, expenditures, and resistance. DESIGN: Nonrandomized, longitudinal cohort study. SETTING: Two community hospitals, one teaching and one non-teaching. PATIENTS: Adult medical and surgical inpatients requiring empiric antibiotic therapy. INTERVENTION: We developed and implemented a treatment protocol for the empiric therapy of common infections. Between July 2000 and June 2002, antibiotics were cycled quarterly; quinolones, beta-lactam-inhibitor combinations, and cephalosporins were used. Protocol adherence, adverse drug events, nosocomial infections, antibiotic use and expenditures, resistance among clinical isolates, and length of stay were assessed during eight quarters. RESULTS: Physicians adhered to the protocol for more than 96% of 2,494 eligible patients. No increases in nosocomial infections or adverse drug events were attributed to the cycling protocol. Antibiotic acquisition costs increased 31%; there was a 14.7% increase in antibiotic use. Length of stay declined by 1 day. Quarterly variability in the prevalence of vancomycin-resistant enterococci and ceftazidime resistance among combined gram-negative organisms were noted. CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of an antibiotic cycling program is feasible in a community hospital setting. No adverse safety concerns were identified. Antibiotic cycling was more expensive, partly due to an increase in antibiotic use to optimize initial empiric therapy. Quarterly antibiogram patterns suggested that antibiotic cycling may have impacted resistance, although the small number of isolates precluded statistical analysis. Further assessment of this approach is necessary to determine its relationship to antimicrobial resistance.Source
Bruno-Murtha LA, Brusch J, Bor D, Li W, Zucker D. A pilot study of antibiotic cycling in the community hospital setting. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2005 Jan;26(1):81-7. Link to article on publisher's siteDOI
10.1086/502491Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/44880PubMed ID
15693413Related Resources
Link to Article in PubMedae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1086/502491