A Novel Risk-Adjusted Metric to Compare Hospitals on Their Antibiotic Prescribing at Hospital Discharge

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38658348/ More careful use of antibiotics at hospital discharge can help slow the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance, according to AHRQ-supported research published in Clinical Infectious Diseases. Study authors built a risk-adjusted predictive model for post-discharge length of antibiotic therapy to measure how often and for how long hospitals prescribe antibiotics at discharge. Their review of 1.8 million hospital stays across 129 Veterans Health Administration hospitals from 2018 to 2021 showed that 1 in 5 patients (19.5 percent) received antibiotics at discharge, usually for about seven days. Using the model to compare hospitals, they found 30 percent of hospitals gave fewer antibiotics and shorter treatments than expected; however, 22 percent of hospitals gave antibiotics more often and for longer than needed, suggesting this metric may help hospitals identify opportunities for improved antibiotic stewardship at discharge