1007. Impact of an Interdisciplinary Outpatient Parenteral Antimicrobial Therapy (OPAT) Clinic During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Background. At the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center, an interdisciplinary outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT) clinic was developed in August 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic (Figure 1). Standardized weekly safety monitoring and clinical follow-up was implemented via tele-OPAT visits by an infectious diseases (ID) pharmacist or ID PA with ID physician oversight. This study aimed to describe the practices implemented through initiation of our OPAT clinic, and its impact on clinical outcomes. Figure 1: Description of intervention and clinic model Methods. This retrospective cohort study compared clinical outcomes of veterans receiving home OPAT one year pre- and post-implementation of a dedicated OPAT clinic. OPAT episodes initiated during the intervention period, prescribed for less than 7 days, not completed at time of analysis, administered with hospice services, or at a hemodialysis center, infusion suite, skilled nursing facility or long-term care facility were excluded. The primary endpoint was treatment failure during or within 30 days of OPAT completion defined as requiring repeat OPAT course for the same infection, unplanned admission, unplanned surgical intervention or procedure for additional source control, or death from any cause. Results. A total of 191 OPAT episodes were included in the analysis (preintervention group, n= 76 vs. post-intervention, n=115). The most common indications for OPAT included bone/joint infections (34%), bacteremia (24%), and endocarditis (13%). Treatment failure was lower in the post-intervention vs. preintervention group (29% vs 46%, p = 0.01) with a median time to treatment failure of 24 days. Treatment failures in both groups were primarily driven by unplanned hospital admissions (Table 3). The median time to ID follow-up from OPAT initiation was shorter in the post-intervention vs. pre-intervention arms (6 days vs. 9 days, p< 0.001). The adverse event rate was higher (13% vs. 4%, p= 0.06), and modifications were made more frequently in the post-intervention (49% vs. 29%, p=0.007). Table 1: Demographics and baseline characteristics Table 2: OPAT indications, antimicrobials, and microbiology Table 3: OPAT follow-up, complications, and treatment failure Conclusion. Implementation of an interdisciplinary OPAT clinic led to shorter time to ID follow-up, more frequent OPAT modifications, and reduced treatment failure. The median time to treatment failure suggests the need for ongoing surveillance beyond the initial 2 weeks of OPAT.