Impact of infectious disease consultation on quality of care, mortality, and length of stay in staphylococcus aureus bacteremia: Results from a large multicenter cohort study

Abstract

Background. We assessed the impact of infectious disease (ID) consultation on management and outcome in patients with Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (SAB). Methods. A retrospective cohort study examined consecutive SAB patients from 6 academic and community hospitals between 2007 and 2010. Quality measures of management including echocardiography, repeat blood culture, removal of infectious foci, and antibiotic therapy were compared between ID consultation (IDC) and no ID consultation (NIDC) groups. A competing risk model with propensity score adjustment was used to compare in-hospital mortality and time to discharge. Results. Of 847 SAB patients, 506 (60%) patients received an ID consultation and 341 (40%) patients did not. Echocardiography was done for 371 (73%) IDC and 191 (56%) NIDC patients (P