Antibiotic overuse is common across walk-in clinics, but it is unclear which stewardship metrics are most effective for audit and feedback. In this study, we assessed the validity of a metric that captures antibiotic prescribing for respiratory tract diagnoses (RTDs).

We performed a mixed-methods study to evaluate an RTD metric, which quantified the frequency at which a provider prescribed antibiotics for RTD visits after excluding visits with complicating factors.

Seven walk-in clinics across an integrated healthcare system.

We included clinic visits during 2018–2022. We also conducted 17 semi-structured interviews with 10 unique providers to assess metric acceptability.

There were 331,496 visits; 120,937 (36.5%) met RTD criteria and 44,382 (36.7%) of these received an antibiotic. Factors associated with an increased odds of antibiotic use for RTDs included patient age ≥ 65 (OR = 1.40; 95% CI 1.30–1.51), age 0–17 (1.55, 95% CI 1.50–1.60), and ≥1 comorbidity (OR = 1.22; 95% CI = 1.15–1.29). After stratifying providers by their antibiotic-prescribing frequency for RTDs, patient case-mix was similar across tertiles. However, the highest tertile of prescribers more frequently coded suppurative otitis media and more frequently prescribed antibiotics for antibiotic-nonresponsive conditions (eg, viral infections). There was no correlation between antibiotic prescribing for RTDs and the frequency of return visits (r = 0.01, P = 0.96). Interviews with providers demonstrated the acceptability of the metric as an assessment tool.

A provider-level metric that quantifies the frequency of antibiotic prescribing for all RTDs has both construct and face validity. Future studies should assess whether this type of metric is an effective feedback tool.

Many preoperative urine cultures are of low value and may even lead to patient harms. This study sought to understand practices around ordering preoperative urine cultures and prescribing antibiotic treatment.

Open-ended, semi-structured qualitative interviews

5 Veterans Affairs hospitals.

Interviews with 14 surgeons (9 surgeons, 5 surgical leaders), 7 infectious disease physicians, 8 surgical advanced practice providers (APPs), 1 surgical nurse manager, 3 infectious disease pharmacists, 1 hospitalist, and 1 lab manager.

We interviewed participants using a qualitative semi-structured interview guide. Collected data was coded inductively and with the Dual Process Model (DPM) using MAXQDA software. Data in the “Testing Decision-Making” code was further reviewed using the concept of perceived risk as a sensitizing concept.

We identified themes relating to surgeons’ concerns about de-implementing preoperative urine cultures to detect asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB) in patients undergoing non-urological procedures: (1) anxiety and uncertainty surrounding missing infection signs spanned surgical specialties, (2) there were perceived risks of negative consequences associated with omitting urine cultures and treatment prior to specific procedure sites and types, and additionally, (3) participants suggested potential routes for adjusting these perceived risks to facilitate de-implementation acceptance. Notably, participants suggested that leadership support and peer engagement could help improve surgeon buy-in.

Concerns about perceived risks sometimes outweigh the evidence against routine preoperative urine cultures to detect ASB. Evidence from trusted peers may improve openness to de-implementing preoperative urine cultures.

A substantial proportion of patients undergoing hemodialysis carry Staphylococcus aureus in their noses, and carriers are at increased risk of S. aureus bloodstream infections. Our pragmatic clinical trial implemented nasal povidone-iodine (PVI) decolonization for the prevention of bloodstream infections in the novel setting of hemodialysis units.

We aimed to identify pragmatic strategies for implementing PVI decolonization among patients in outpatient hemodialysis units.

Qualitative descriptive study.

Outpatient hemodialysis units affiliated with five US academic medical centers. Units varied in size, patient demographics, and geographic location.

Sixty-six interviewees including nurses, hemodialysis technicians, research coordinators, and other personnel.

We conducted interviews with personnel affiliated with all five academic medical centers and conducted thematic analysis of transcripts.

Hemodialysis units had varied success with patient recruitment, but interviewees reported that patients and healthcare personnel (HCP) found PVI decolonization acceptable and feasible. Leadership support, HCP engagement, and tailored patient-focused tools or strategies facilitated patient engagement and PVI implementation. Interviewees reported both patients and HCP sometimes underestimated patients’ infection risks and experienced infection-prevention fatigue. Other HCP barriers included limited staffing and poor staff engagement. Patient barriers included high health burdens, language barriers, memory issues, and lack of social support.

Our qualitative study suggests that PVI decolonization would be acceptable to patients and clinical personnel, and implementation is feasible for outpatient hemodialysis units. Hemodialysis units could facilitate implementation by engaging unit leaders, patients and personnel, and developing education for patients about their infection risk.

Surgical-site infections (SSIs) can be catastrophic. Bundles of evidence-based practices can reduce SSIs but can be difficult to implement and sustain.

We sought to understand the implementation of SSI prevention bundles in 6 US hospitals.

Qualitative study.

We conducted in-depth semistructured interviews with personnel involved in bundle implementation and conducted a thematic analysis of the transcripts.

The study was conducted in 6 US hospitals: 2 academic tertiary-care hospitals, 3 academic-affiliated community hospitals, 1 unaffiliated community hospital.

In total, 30 hospital personnel participated. Participants included surgeons, laboratory directors, clinical personnel, and infection preventionists.

Bundle complexity impeded implementation. Other barriers varied across services, even within the same hospital. Multiple strategies were needed, and successful strategies in one service did not always apply in other areas. However, early and sustained interprofessional collaboration facilitated implementation.

The evidence-based SSI bundle is complicated and can be difficult to implement. One implementation process probably will not work for all settings. Multiple strategies were needed to overcome contextual and implementation barriers that varied by setting and implementation climate. Appropriate adaptations for specific settings and populations may improve bundle adoption, fidelity, acceptability, and sustainability.

Despite a paucity of evidence, decolonization measures are prescribed for outpatients with recurrent Staphylococcus aureus skin and soft-tissue infection (SSTI).

Compare the effectiveness of 4 regimens for eradicating S. aureus carriage.

Open-label, randomized controlled trial. Colonization status and recurrent SSTI were ascertained at 1 and 4 months.

Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's Hospitals, St. Louis, Missouri, 2007–2009.

Three hundred patients with community-onset SSTI and S. aureus colonization in the nares, axilla, or inguinal folds.

Participants were randomized to receive no therapeutic intervention (control subjects) or one of three 5-day regimens: 2% mupirocin ointment applied to the nares twice daily, intranasal mupirocin plus daily 4% chlorhexidine body washes, or intranasal mupirocin plus daily dilute bleach water baths.

Among 244 participants with 1-month colonization data, modified intention-to-treat analysis revealed S. aureus eradication in 38% of participants in the education only (control) group, 56% of those in the mupirocin group (P = .03 vs controls), 55% of those in the mupirocin and chlorhexidine group (P = .05), and 63% off those in the mupirocin and bleach group (P = .006). Of 229 participants with 4-month colonization data, eradication rates were 48% in the control group, 56% in the mupirocin only group (P = .40 vs controls), 54% in the mupirocin and chlorhexidine group (P = .51), and 71% in the mupirocin and bleach group (P = .02). At 1 and 4 months, recurrent SSTIs were reported by 20% and 36% of participants, respectively.

An inexpensive regimen of dilute bleach baths, intranasal mupirocin, and hygiene education effectively eradicated S. aureus over a 4-month period. High rates of recurrent SSTI suggest that factors other than endogenous colonization are important determinants of infection.

ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00513799.