Barriers to Minimizing Respiratory Viral Testing in Bronchiolitis: Physician Perceptions on Testing Practices

What works for and what hinders deimplementation of low-value care in emergency medicine practice? A scoping review

OBJECTIVES

Low-value care can harm patients and healthcare systems. Despite a decade of global endeavours, low value care has persisted. Identification of barriers and enablers is essential for effective deimplementation of low-value care. This scoping review is an evidence summary of barriers, enablers and features of effective interventions for deimplementation of low-value care in emergency medicine practice worldwide.

DESIGN

A mixed-methods scoping review was conducted using the Arksey and O'Malley framework.

DATA SOURCES

Medline, CINAHL, Embase, EMCare, Scopus and grey literature were searched from inception to 5 December 2022.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Primary studies which employed qualitative, quantitative or mixed-methods approaches to explore deimplementation of low-value care in an EM setting and reported barriers, enablers or interventions were included. Reviews, protocols, perspectives, comments, opinions, editorials, letters to editors, news articles, books, chapters, policies, guidelines and animal studies were excluded. No language limits were applied.

DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS

Study selection, data collection and quality assessment were performed by two independent reviewers. Barriers, enablers and interventions were mapped to the domains of the Theoretical Domains Framework. The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool was used for quality assessment.

RESULTS

The search yielded 167 studies. A majority were quantitative studies (90%, 150/167) that evaluated interventions (86%, 143/167). Limited provider abilities, diagnostic uncertainty, lack of provider insight, time constraints, fear of litigation, and patient expectations were the key barriers. Enablers included leadership commitment, provider engagement, provider training, performance feedback to providers and shared decision-making with patients. Interventions included one or more of the following facets: education, stakeholder engagement, audit and feedback, clinical decision support, nudge, clinical champions and training. Multifaceted interventions were more likely to be effective than single-faceted interventions. Effectiveness of multifaceted interventions was influenced by fidelity of the intervention facets. Use of behavioural change theories such as the Theoretical Domains Framework in the published studies appeared to enhance the effectiveness of interventions to deimplement low-value care.

CONCLUSION

High-fidelity, multifaceted interventions that incorporated education, stakeholder engagement, audit/feedback and clinical decision support, were administered daily and lasted longer than 1 year were most effective in achieving deimplementation of low-value care in emergency departments. This review contributes the best available evidence to date, but further rigorous, theory-informed, qualitative and mixed-methods studies are needed to supplement the growing body of evidence to effectively deimplement low-value care in emergency medicine practice.

International Practice Patterns of Antibiotic Therapy and Laboratory Testing in Bronchiolitis

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

International patterns of antibiotic use and laboratory testing in bronchiolitis in emergency departments are unknown. Our objective is to evaluate variation in the use of antibiotics and nonindicated tests in infants with bronchiolitis in 38 emergency departments in Pediatric Emergency Research Networks in Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Ireland, and Spain and Portugal. We hypothesized there would be significant variation, adjusted for patient characteristics.

METHODS

We analyzed a retrospective cohort study of previously healthy infants aged 2 to 12 months with bronchiolitis. Variables examined included network, poor feeding, dehydration, nasal flaring, chest retractions, apnea, saturation, respiratory rate, fever, and suspected bacterial infection. Outcomes included systemic antibiotic administration and urine, blood, or viral testing or chest radiography (CXR).

RESULTS

In total, 180 of 2359 (7.6%) infants received antibiotics, ranging from 3.5% in the United Kingdom and Ireland to 11.1% in the United States. CXR (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.3; 95% confidence interval 1.6-3.2), apnea (aOR 2.2; 1.1-3.5), and fever (aOR 2.4; 1.7-3.4) were associated with antibiotic use, which did not vary across networks (P = .15). In total, 768 of 2359 infants (32.6%) had ≥1 nonindicated test, ranging from 12.7% in the United Kingdom and Ireland to 50% in Spain and Portugal. Compared to the United Kingdom and Ireland, the aOR (confidence interval) results for testing were Canada 5.75 (2.24-14.76), United States 4.14 (1.70-10.10), Australia and New Zealand 2.25 (0.86-5.74), and Spain and Portugal 3.96 (0.96-16.36). Testing varied across networks (P < .0001) and was associated with suspected bacterial infections (aOR 2.12; 1.30-2.39) and most respiratory distress parameters. Viral testing (591 of 768 [77%]) and CXR (507 of 768 [66%]) were obtained most frequently.

CONCLUSIONS

The rate of antibiotic use in bronchiolitis was low across networks and was associated with CXR, fever, and apnea. Nonindicated testing was common outside of the United Kingdom and Ireland and varied across networks irrespective of patient characteristics.