Improved paediatric antimicrobial prescribing with a smartphone application: a before and after interventional study.
Child Health
Infectious Disease Medicine
Information Technology
Paediatrics
Journal
Archives of disease in childhood
ISSN: 1468-2044
Titre abrégé: Arch Dis Child
Pays: England
ID NLM: 0372434
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
11 2023
11 2023
Historique:
received:
08
05
2023
accepted:
10
07
2023
medline:
1
11
2023
pubmed:
19
7
2023
entrez:
18
7
2023
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
Children have a high consumption of antimicrobials that require complicated decision-making by prescribers. Despite this, antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) interventions are often not translated into paediatric medicine. Script is a smartphone application (app) launched in Auckland, New Zealand to support decision-making for antimicrobial prescribers. The aim was to improve adherence to existing local clinical guidelines for both adult and paediatric infections. Inpatient and emergency department antimicrobial prescriptions were prospectively collected and evaluated for guideline adherence. Baseline prescribing data were collected and compared with prescribing at 4 months and 1 year after the app was launched. Prescriptions were graded as 'appropriate' or 'inappropriate' by investigators. Grading was done blinded to timing of the prescription relative to the intervention. Following the launch of the Script app, guideline adherence significantly increased from 241 of 348 (69%) antimicrobial prescriptions graded as appropriate during the baseline period to 301 of 359 (83%) after 4 months (p<0.0001). This improvement from baseline was sustained at 1 year with 263 of 323 (81%) adherence (p<0.001). At 1 year, this improvement could be demonstrated separately for medical, surgical and emergency department prescriptions. There was a significant and sustained improvement in adherence to paediatric antimicrobial guidelines following the introduction of a prescribing support app. The need to seek guidance for antimicrobial doses due to the age-based and weight-based calculations in paediatrics may mean that AMS interventions such as decision support and prescribing tools are particularly well suited to paediatric prescribing.
Identifiants
pubmed: 37463738
pii: archdischild-2023-325795
doi: 10.1136/archdischild-2023-325795
doi:
Substances chimiques
Anti-Infective Agents
0
Anti-Bacterial Agents
0
Types de publication
Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
899-903Informations de copyright
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.
Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts
Competing interests: None declared.