Clinical impact of a prospective audit with intervention and feedback without carbapenem restriction in patients receiving carbapenem injection

Abstract

Background: Antimicrobial stewardship is required to ensure the appropriate use of antimicrobials. However, few reports have shown the impact of antimicrobial stewardship on clinical outcomes. Methods: To evaluate the clinical outcomes of implementing a prospective audit with intervention and feedback without carbapenem pre-authorisation, we conducted a single-centre, prospective cohort study in patients who received carbapenem injection. Subjects were allocated to groups receiving antimicrobial agents before (non-intervention group) or after (intervention group) the implementation of an antimicrobial stewardship programme in the clinical setting. Results: The intervention facilitated the rate of choice of effective antimicrobials on day 2 from the onset of infection (from 63.2% to 90.2%; P < 0.001). Moreover, the rates of clinical failure-free survival (hazard ratio [HR], 0.65; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.47-0.89; P = 0.008) and re-infection-free survival (HR, 0.35; 95% CI, 0.18-0.68; P = 0.002) were significantly higher in the intervention group than in the non-intervention group. A multivariate Cox proportional hazard analysis indicated that non-implementation of antimicrobial stewardship was a significant risk factor for clinical failure in patients receiving carbapenem injection (HR, 1.56; 95% CI, 1.11-2.19; P = 0.010). Conclusions: Our prospective audit with intervention and feedback strategy without carbapenem restriction facilitated the choice of optimal antimicrobials at an early stage of infection and improved clinical outcomes in patients who received carbapenem.