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© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited. (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

Objective:

To evaluate the impact of a diagnostic stewardship intervention on Clostridioides difficile healthcare-associated infections (HAI).

Design:

Quality improvement study.

Setting:

Two urban acute care hospitals.

Interventions:

All inpatient stool testing for C. difficile required review and approval prior to specimen processing in the laboratory. An infection preventionist reviewed all orders daily through chart review and conversations with nursing; orders meeting clinical criteria for testing were approved, orders not meeting clinical criteria were discussed with the ordering provider. The proportion of completed tests meeting clinical criteria for testing and the primary outcome of C. difficile HAI were compared before and after the intervention.

Results:

The frequency of completed C. difficile orders not meeting criteria was lower [146 (7.5%) of 1,958] in the intervention period (January 10, 2022–October 14, 2022) than in the sampled 3-month preintervention period [26 (21.0%) of 124; P < .001]. C. difficile HAI rates were 8.80 per 10,000 patient days prior to the intervention (March 1, 2021–January 9, 2022) and 7.69 per 10,000 patient days during the intervention period (incidence rate ratio, 0.87; 95% confidence interval, 0.73–1.05; P = .13).

Conclusions:

A stringent order-approval process reduced clinically nonindicated testing for C. difficile but did not significantly decrease HAIs.

Details

Title
Diagnostic stewardship for Clostridioides difficile testing in an acute care hospital: A quality improvement intervention
Author
Berg, Madeline L 1 ; Ayres, Ashley M 1 ; Weber, David R 1 ; McCullough, Melissa 2 ; Crall, Victoria D 1 ; Lewis, Casey L 1 ; Valek, Abby L 1 ; Vincent, Lizabeth A 1 ; Penzelik, Joseph 1 ; Sasinoski, Crystal A 1 ; Cheng, Amanda L 3 ; Bradford, Claire F 1 ; Bell, Elizabeth O 1 ; Edwards, Kimberly M 1 ; Castronova, Isabella A 1 ; Brady, Mya B 1 ; Slaughter, Julie 1 ; Louise-Marie Oleksiuk 4 ; Snyder, Graham M 5   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

 Department of Infection Prevention and Control, UPMC Presbyterian/Shadyside, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 
 Division of Laboratory Medicine, Department of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 
 Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, UPMC Shadyside, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 
 Department of Pharmacy, UPMC Presbyterian/Shadyside, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 
 Department of Infection Prevention and Control, UPMC Presbyterian/Shadyside, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 
Section
Original Article
Publication year
2023
Publication date
2023
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
e-ISSN
2732494X
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2795452331
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited. (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.