Effect of the neonatal early onset sepsis calculator on pharmacy-prepared empirical antibiotics

Abstract

Background: The Kaiser Permanente early onset sepsis (EOS) calculator was introduced in 2016 for infants who were born at ≥35 weeks gestation or more (≥35GA) at a principal referral and specialist hospital for women and newborns in Western Australia to reduce unnecessary antibiotic administration in healthy neonates. Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the effect of the EOS calculator on antibiotic orders aseptically prepared by the pharmacy. Methods: The study retrospectively compared pharmacy data over two periods, before (2015) and after (2016) implementation. Results: After implementation, the number of gentamicin prefilled syringes (PFS) distributed decreased by 41.6% (1466 doses). In addition, the number of ≥35GA neonates receiving benzylpenicillin PFS decreased by 33.9% (222 neonates), and the overall rate (number of neonates receiving a benzylpenicillin PFS/occupied bed days) decreased from 2.24% to 1.48% (p < 0.0001). Conclusion: The introduction of the EOS calculator has reduced the empirical antibiotic use in ≥35GA neonates at the King Edward Memorial Hospital.