A new study found that children who were admitted to hospitals with antibiotic stewardship programs and followed recommendations had shorter stays, and were less likely to be readmitted within 30 days when compared to those who ignored the recommendations.
The antibiotic stewardship program was initiated to improve use of antibiotics in U.S. hospitals and ensure that admitted patients receive the right antibiotic and right dosage at the right time and duration. The program was launched after earlier probes found that almost half of antibiotic use in hospitals is unnecessary or inappropriate, resulting in other problems such as overuse and antibiotic resistance. Some of the hospitals that have the program include Johns Hopkins Hospital.
A study conducted by researchers from the Children's Mercy Hospital-Kansas City, Missouri is the first to provide evidence that the program reduced admission time and readmission rates of children staying in the hospital.
"These findings reinforce the health benefits of antibiotic stewardship programs for some of our most vulnerable patients. It's clear that more hospitals should invest their resources in implementing such programs," said Jason Newland, MD, lead author of the study and medical director of patient safety and systems reliability at Children's Mercy Hospital-Kansas City, Mo., in a press release.
Researchers looked at the five-year data of the study in the hospital. The antibiotic stewardship program has recommended doctors stop using some antibiotics or change the dosage or prescription to 1,191 of 7,051 hospitalized children.
The findings showed that patients whose doctors followed the program's recommendations were discharged earlier than those who did not. Patients were discharged after an average of 68 hours compared to 82 hours of those who ignored the recommendations. Readmission rates within 30 days were also zero compared to 3.5 percent of those who did not follow the advice.
"Skeptics say stopping the antibiotics and sending the kids home sooner will lead to more children being readmitted, but we didn't find that," said Dr. Newland. "What we found was that kids were being taken off unnecessary antibiotics sooner - and in a safe manner."
Results of the study were presented at IDWeek 2014 held in Philadelphia.
