How automatic notification of infectious disease specialists impacted the management of Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia in a community hospital setting

Accelerating reductions in antimicrobial resistance: Evaluating the effectiveness of an intervention program implemented by an infectious disease consultant

OBJECTIVES

Very few infectious disease physicians exist in Japan. A concerted infection control intervention program involving an antimicrobial stewardship team and multiple components was designed and implemented in multiple hospitals from 2010. Here, we aimed to retrospectively evaluate the intervention program's effectiveness.

METHODS

The frequencies of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and drug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa were monitored in four acute-care hospitals. The primary goal of the program was to accelerate the speed of decline of such resistance. A quasi-experimental study design was used to detect accelerated rates of increases in drug susceptibility, comparing time before and after the intervention.

RESULTS

Both MRSA and drug-resistant P. aeruginosa exhibited decreasing trends (p < 0.01 for all four hospitals and all bacterial cultures). Compared with the whole of Japan, the decreasing trends for MRSA and drug-resistant P. aeruginosa in the four hospitals accelerated after the intervention program was established; notably, the rate of MRSA decrease increased by 50%-150% of its original value.

CONCLUSIONS

The intervention program successfully reduced the proportion of drug resistance in the four hospitals. Centering on systematic education, decision-making support, and implementation and oversight by an infectious disease consultant, this program was shown to be effective where specialist physicians are scarce.

Impact of universal infectious diseases consultation on the management of Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection in a Swiss community hospital

We compared two periods, before and after systematic implementation of infectious diseases consultation for each Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia. Comparing these periods, we showed a significant increase in follow-up blood cultures (from 38% to 85%), transthoracic echocardiography (from 25% to 79%), and administration of appropriate antistaphylococcal agent (from 77% to 96%).