Abstract
Background
In 2015, the CDC established the National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria, with the goal of reducing inappropriate outpatient antibiotic use by 50% by 2020. Upper respiratory infections, (URIs) account for one of the top three diagnoses prompting outpatient visits, and despite viral pathogens being the etiology of most URIs, many patients are treated with antibiotics. This study aimed to reduce inappropriate antibiotics prescribing for URIs at Cooper Primary Care offices.
Methods
Using the electronic medical record, we analyzed office visits (OVs) of 63 primary care providers during the influenza season (November 1, 2017–February 28, 2018) that were associated with a URI diagnosis code and resulted in an antibiotic prescription. The intervention was a personalized digital URI score card (Figure 1) emailed to each primary care physician. It included (1) Cooper Hospitals’ Primary Care Department Average Rate of Antibiotic Prescribing for URI OVs and (2) each physician’s average rate of antibiotic prescribing for URI office visits. Data were collected post-intervention (November 1, 2018–February 28, 2019) to evaluate for changes in antibiotic prescribing patterns.
Results
Using Fischer’s Exact test we analyzed the pre vs. post-intervention rate of antibiotic prescribing for URI OVs. There were 7,295 total pre-intervention office visits. Of these, 41.03% resulted in an antibiotic prescription. There were 6,642 total post-intervention office visits. Of these, 35.85% resulted in an antibiotic prescription. There was a 5.18% overall decrease in antibiotics prescribed for all URI office visits (P < 0.001) (see Figure 2).
Conclusion
Increasing providers’ awareness of their own prescribing patterns compared with their department’s prescribing patterns utilizing a single report card decreased the rate of antibiotics prescribed for URIs by 5.18% for all URI-related office visits. Specifically, there was 10.19% decrease in antibiotics prescribed for bronchitis, which is by definition, of viral etiology. This is significant given the potential side-effects of unnecessary antibiotics, and the emergence of antibiotic resistance. Limitations include a lack of certainty in “true” inappropriate prescriptions and diagnosis coding.
Disclosures
All authors: No reported disclosures.
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