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AbstractObjective:Evaluate changes in antimicrobial use during COVID-19 and after implementation of a multispecialty COVID-19 clinical guidance team compared to pre–COVID-19 antimicrobial use.Design:Retrospective observational study.Setting:Tertiary-care academic medical center.Participants:Internal medicine and medical intensive care unit (MICU) provider teams and hospitalized COVID-19 patients.Methods:Difference-in-differences analyses of antibiotic days of therapy per 1,000 patient days present (DOT) for internal medicine and MICU teams treating COVID-19 patients versus teams that did not were performed for 3 periods: before COVID-19, initial COVID-19 period, and after implementation of a multispecialty COVID-19 clinical guidance team which included daily, patient-specific antimicrobial stewardship recommendations. Patient characteristics associated with antibiotic DOT were evaluated using multivariable Poisson regression.Results:In the initial COVID-19 period, compared to the pre–COVID-19 period, internal medicine and MICU teams increased weekly antimicrobial use by 145.3 DOT (95% CI, 35.1–255.5) and 204.0 DOT (95% CI, −16.9 to 424.8), respectively, compared to non–COVID-19 teams. In the intervention period, internal medicine and MICU COVID-19 teams both had significant weekly decreases of 362.3 DOT (95% CI, −443.3 to −281.2) and 226.3 DOT (95% CI, −381.2 to –71.3). Of 131 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, 86 (65.6%) received antibiotics; no specific patient factors were significantly associated with an expected change in antibiotic days.Conclusions:Antimicrobial use initially increased for COVID-19 patient care teams compared to pre–COVID-19 levels but significantly decreased after implementation of a multispecialty clinical guidance team, which may be an effective strategy to reduce unnecessary antimicrobial use.

AbstractObjective:To identify prescriber characteristics that predict antibiotic high-prescribing behavior to inform statewide antimicrobial stewardship interventions.Design:Retrospective analysis of 2016 IQVIA Xponent, formerly QuintilesIMS, outpatient retail pharmacy oral antibiotic prescriptions in Tennessee.Setting:Statewide retail pharmacies filling outpatient antibiotic prescriptions.Participants:Prescribers who wrote at least 1 antibiotic prescription filled at a retail pharmacy in Tennessee in 2016.Methods:Multivariable logistic regression, including prescriber gender, birth decade, specialty, and practice location, and patient gender and age group, to determine the association with high prescribing.Results:In 2016, 7,949,816 outpatient oral antibiotic prescriptions were filled in Tennessee: 1,195 prescriptions per 1,000 total population. Moreover, 50% of Tennessee’s outpatient oral antibiotic prescriptions were written by 9.3% of prescribers. Specific specialties and prescriber types were associated with high prescribing: urology (odds ratio [OR], 3.249; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.208–3.289), nurse practitioners (OR, 2.675; 95% CI, 2.658–2.692), dermatologists (OR, 2.396; 95% CI, 2.365–2.428), physician assistants (OR, 2.382; 95% CI, 2.364–2.400), and pediatric physicians (OR, 2.340; 95% CI, 2.320–2.361). Prescribers born in the 1960s were most likely to be high prescribers (OR, 2.574; 95% CI, 2.532–2.618). Prescribers in rural areas were more likely than prescribers in all other practice locations to be high prescribers. High prescribers were more likely to prescribe broader-spectrum antibiotics (P< .001).Conclusions:Targeting high prescribers, independent of specialty, degree, practice location, age, or gender, may be the best strategy for implementing cost-conscious, effective outpatient antimicrobial stewardship interventions. More information about high prescribers, such as patient volumes, clinical scope, and specific barriers to intervention, is needed.