Suchergebnisse

ABSTRACT
BackgroundMonitoring sepsis outcomes over time is necessary to evaluate healthcare improvement interventions. However, it is a clinical diagnosis (infection with a systemic inflammatory response) that is not routinely recorded electronically. We aimed to create a proxy measure for sepsis mortality using routine data.
ObjectiveICD-10 codes on hospital discharge summaries are often used to monitor disease outcome but the presence of a code for a specific infection, e.g. pneumonia, does not give any indication of severity of illness i.e. whether the patient had sepsis. There are ICD-10 codes that specifically indicate sepsis, most commonly A40 and A41. However, monitoring mortality using ICD-10 is susceptible to coding bias as practice differs between and within health boards. Using ICD-10 codes alone does not differentiate between changes in mortality and changes in coding practice.
As recommended in the "Sepsis 6" care bundle, all patients with suspected sepsis should have a blood culture taken urgently. A previous study showed that having a blood culture taken was associated with a 3-fold increase in risk of mortality, over other hospital inpatients, independent of having a positive or negative result. We tested whether having a blood culture taken might be a suitable proxy marker for sepsis and compared it to data using ICD-10 sepsis codes.
MethodData on all patients that had a blood culture taken in hospital in Scotland between 2011 and 2013 were obtained from hospital laboratory systems. These data were linked to hospital discharge summary records (SMR01) and death records. Monthly 30-day mortality rates from date of blood culture were calculated. Patients with an A40 or A41 ICD-10 code were extracted from hospital discharge summary records (SMR01) and linked to deaths records. Monthly 30-day mortality rates from date of admission were calculated over the same period of time. Blood culture sampling and, more strikingly, the use of A40/A41 codes increased over the study period. Blood culture data would indicate no significant change in 30-day mortality over the study period but coding data would indicate a 20% relative reduction.
ConclusionA40/A41 codes lack sensitivity as the numbers of patients with these codes is many times lower than estimates of sepsis incidence, and coding practice changed dramatically over time. Blood culture data lacks specificity as many patients that had a blood culture taken will end up with an alternative diagnosis. Combining a broader group of infection codes with blood culture data may be a more useful measure.

Background with rationale National Therapeutic Indicators (NTI) in Scotland use national administrative data to identify variation and drive quality improvement in GP practice prescribing. Twelve indicators were developed in 2011 and in 2012 practices were offered financial incentives to review their prescribing in two where there was greatest potential for improvement.
Main AimTo quantify the impact of 2012 NTI alone and in combination with financial incentives.
Methods/ApproachSix NTI were selected for analysis, aiming for heterogeneity in terms of whether the focus was quality of care (clinical) or cost effectiveness (cost). Impact was evaluated using segmented linear regression of time-series prescribing data, and changes in prescribing at 12 and 24 months after NTI introduction were estimated. Other national interventions expected to influence GP prescribing were also modelled.
ResultsOne selected NTI could not be modelled because of non-linear trends in the baseline period. In practices not financially incentivised to review prescribing, improvements were variable. At 12 months relative changes were dipyridamole −31.9% (95%CI; −43.1 to −20.7), quinine −3.6% (95%CI; −7.2 to −0.1), non-preferred statins 6.2% (95%CI; 1.0 to 11.5), hypnotics and anxiolytics −2.9% (95%CI; −7.3 to 1.6) and high strength inhaled corticosteroids −1.0% (95%CI; −1.7 to −0.3).
In comparison financially incentivising practices resulted in larger improvements and improvements in all NTIs modelled. At 12 months relative changes were dipyridamole −65.3% (95%CI; −68.4 to −62.2), quinine −52.3% (95%CI; −54.7 to −49.9), non-preferred statins −17.8% (95%CI; −21.9 to −13.6), hypnotics and anxiolytics −9.6% (95%CI; −12.6 to −6.7) and high strength inhaled corticosteroids −6.0% (95%CI; −7.3 to −4.8).
ConclusionGP prescribing can be improved through feedback of national administrative data prescribing indicators. Impact on prescribing is larger when financial incentives to focus on particular areas of prescribing are additionally used.

ABSTRACT
ObjectivesTo support reduction of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), in 2008 the Scottish Antimicrobial Prescribing Group recommended that all NHS boards in Scotland restrict the use of antibiotics associated with a high risk of CDI. In NHS Grampian the policy for antibiotic prophylaxis in orthopaedic surgery was changed in June 2010. Trauma patients undergoing internal fixation or arthroplasty received flucloxacillin or co-amoxiclav before the policy change and flucloxacillin and gentamicin after the policy change. Previous studies have found similar policy changes resulted in an increase in post-operative acute kidney injury (AKI) and this study examined rates of post-operative AKI before and after this policy change in the NHS Grampian region of Scotland. Patients undergoing elective arthroplasty received either flucloxacillin or co-amoxiclav or cefuroxime before the policy change and cefuroxime afterwards.
ApproachAll NHS Grampian patients who underwent an orthopaedic surgical procedure with prophylaxis during the period 01 June 2008 to 31 May 2012 were selected. Cases were linked to local creatinine data to detect post-operative AKI. Cases were further linked to national coverage data: (i) hospital discharge data to create the Charlson score for comorbidity, (ii) patient-level community prescribing data to identify previous exposure to any medicines which predispose to renal impairment, (iii) patient-level infection data to identify any post-operative CDI and (iv) Scottish Renal Registry data for case exclusion purposes. Segmented regression analyses of interrupted time series were used to evaluate changes in level and trend associated with the intervention and estimate effect sizes.
Results3,870 trauma cases and 5,475 elective cases were examined. There was a significant increase in AKI rate following the policy change (β=0.28; 95%CI, 0.03 to 0.53; p=0.028) in trauma patients, equating to an increase of 0.28 cases of AKI per 100 procedures per month and a relative intervention effect at 24 months of 150% (95% CI 25% to 250%) There was no significant change in AKI rate among elective patients.
ConclusionWe found that a change in orthopaedic antibiotic prophylaxis policy in NHS Grampian to flucloxacillin plus gentamcin was associated with an increase in post-operative AKI. This is consistent with observations in other boards and supports the new recommendation away from this policy made by SAPG in 2012. In cohort of trauma patients we found the change in policy was associated with an increase in post-operative AKI rate.

ABSTRACT
ObjectivesThe use of "real-time" data to support individual patient management and outcome assessment requires the development of risk assessment models. This could be delivered through a learning health system by the building robust statistical analysis tools onto the existing linked data held by NHS Scotland's Infection Intelligence Platform (IIP) and developed within the Scottish Healthcare Associated Infection Prevention Institute (SHAIPI).
This project will create prediction models for the risk of acquiring a healthcare associated infection (HAI), and particular outcomes, at the point of GP consultation/ hospital admission which could aid clinical decision making.
ApproachWe demonstrate the capability using the HAI Clostridium difficile (CDI) from 2010-2013. Using linked national individual level data on community prescribing, hospitalisations, infections and death records we extracted all cases of CDI and by comparing to matched population-based controls, examined the impact of prior hospital admissions, care home residence, comorbidities, exposure to gastric acid suppressive drugs and antibiotic exposure, defined as both cumulative (total defined daily dose (DDD)) and temporal antimicrobial exposure in the previous 6 months, to the risk of CDI acquisition. Antimicrobial exposure was considered for all drugs and the higher risk broad spectrum antibiotics (4Cs). Associations are assessed using conditional logistic regression. Using cross-validation we assess the ability of the model to accurately predict CDI infection. Risk scores for acquisition of CDI are estimated by combining these predictions with age and gender population incidence.
ResultsIn the period 2010-2013 there were 1446 cases of CDI with matched 7964 controls. A significant dose-response relationship for exposure to any antimicrobial (1-7 DDDs OR=2.3 rising to OR=4.4 for 29+ DDDs) and, with elevated risk, to the 4C group (1-7 DDDs OR=3.8 rising to OR=17.9 for 29+ DDDs). Exposure elevates CDI risk most in the month after prescription but for 4C antimicrobials the elevated risk remains 6 months later (4C OR=12.4 within 1 month, OR=2.6 4-6 months later). The risk of CDI was also increased with more co-morbidities, previous hospitalisations, care home residency, increased number of prescriptions, and gastric acid suppression.
ConclusionDespite limitations to current application in practice,(paucity of patient level in-hospital prescribing data and constraints of the timeliness of the data), when fully developed this system will enable risk classification to identify patients most at risk of HAI and adverse outcomes to aid clinical decision making.

ABSTRACTObjectivesPrior use of antimicrobials, in particular broad-spectrum antimicrobials, is associated with the development of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI). Our previous work has demonstrated increased risk with cumulative exposure but there is limited evidence on specific patterns of cumulative antimicrobial prescribing prior to infection. Understanding this pattern will help inform antimicrobial stewardship. This study aims to investigate the prescribing patterns for CDI cases with more than 4 weeks cumulative antimicrobial exposure during the 6 months prior to their CDI date.ApproachWe linked three Scottish patient-level data sets: laboratory confirmed CDI (ECOSS), prescriptions for antimicrobials in primary care (PIS) and all hospital admissions (SMR01). From ECOSS all cases of CDI reported in the period August 2010 to July 2013 were identified. Each CDI case was linked to SMR01 to allocate case type (either hospital or community associated) and to PIS for previous antimicrobial prescriptions. Visual representation of temporal exposure indicating both duration and drug type of each antimicrobial dispensed during the 6 month period before the infection was produced to clearly understand the pattern of prescribing.ResultsIn the study period, there were a total of 1557 community acquired CDI cases without recent (prior 3 months) hospitalisation. Among them, 287 (18%) cases had more than 4 weeks prior cumulative antimicrobial exposure accumulating a total of 1311 dispensed prescriptions. Cases had an average 4 (Q1:3,Q3:6) prescriptions and 2 (Q1:2,Q3:3) different types of antimicrobials dispensed. The timeline plot shows that repeated short duration prescriptions contributed more to cumulative exposure than long duration prophylaxis. The most common antimicrobials prescribed were amoxicillin (38% of cases), trimethoprim (30%) and flucloxacillin (27%). The median duration per prescription for each of these was less than 2 weeks. The antimicrobials that had a median duration of around a month per prescription were oxytetracycline (3%) and clindamycin (6%).
ConclusionsThis study of a national linked patient level data set contained sufficient numbers of cases to enable investigation of the prescribing pattern in individuals with highest risk cumulative exposure. This study uses NHS Scotland's developing Infection Intelligence Platform which will place Scotland as a world leader in the use of health informatics to support infection control and antimicrobial stewardship.

In 2009, the Scottish government issued a target to reduce Clostridium difficile infection by 30% in 2 years. Consequently, Scottish hospitals changed from cephalosporins to gentamicin for surgical antibiotic prophylaxis. This study examined rates of postoperative AKI before and after this policy change. The study population comprised 12,482 adults undergoing surgery (orthopedic, urology, vascular, gastrointestinal, and gynecology) with antibiotic prophylaxis between October 1, 2006, and September 30, 2010 in the Tayside region of Scotland. Postoperative AKI was defined by the Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes criteria. The study design was an interrupted time series with segmented regression analysis. In orthopedic patients, change in policy from cefuroxime to flucloxacillin (two doses of 1 g) and single-dose gentamicin (4 mg/kg) was associated with a 94% increase in AKI (P=0.04; 95% confidence interval, 93.8% to 94.3%). Most patients who developed AKI after prophylactic gentamicin had stage 1 AKI, but some patients developed persistent stage 2 or stage 3 AKI. The antibiotic policy change was not associated with a significant increase in AKI in the other groups. Regardless of antibiotic regimen, however, rates of AKI were high (24%) after vascular surgery, and increased steadily after gastrointestinal surgery. Rates could only be ascertained in 52% of urology patients and 47% of gynecology patients because of a lack of creatinine testing. These results suggest that gentamicin should be avoided in orthopedic patients in the perioperative period. Our findings also raise concerns about the increasing prevalence of postoperative AKI and failures to consistently measure postoperative renal function.

Funding received from the Research Council of Norway (RCN) through the Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance (JPIAMR) under the fourth call (2016). Costs included travel costs, running face-to-face meetings and dissemination of results. The Health Services Research Unit is core funded by the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates. J.M.G. holds a Canada Research Chair in Health Knowledge Transfer and Uptake. E.C. is funded by the National Institute of Health Research Imperial Biomedical Research Centre and the National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit (NIHR HPRU) in Healthcare Associated Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance at Imperial College London and the Economic and Social Research Council. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the report. ; Peer reviewed ; Publisher PDF

Scope Antibiotic stewardship programmes (ASPs) are necessary in hospitals to improve the judicious use of antibiotics. While ASPs require complex change of key behaviours on individual, team organization and policy levels, evidence from the behavioural sciences is underutilized in antibiotic stewardship studies across the world, including high-income countries (HICs). A consensus procedure was performed to propose research priority areas for optimizing effective implementation of ASPs in hospital settings using a behavioural perspective. Methods A workgroup for behavioural approaches to ASPs was convened in response to the fourth call for leading expert network proposals by the Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance (JPIAMR). Eighteen clinical and academic specialists in antibiotic stewardship, implementation science and behaviour change from four HICs with publicly funded healthcare systems (e.g. Canada, Germany, Norway and the UK) met face-to-face to agree on broad research priority areas using a structured consensus method. Question addressed and recommendations: The consensus process assessing the ten identified research priority areas resulted in recommendations that need urgent scientific interest and funding to optimize effective implementation of ASPs for hospital inpatients in HICs with publicly funded healthcare systems. We suggest and detail behavioural science evidence–guided research efforts in the following areas: (a) comprehensively identifying barriers and facilitators to implementing ASPs and clinical recommendations intended to optimize antibiotic prescribing; (b) identifying actors ('who') and actions ('what needs to be done') of ASPs and clinical teams; (c) synthesizing available evidence to support future research and planning for ASPs; (d) specifying the activities in current ASPs with the purpose of defining a control group for comparison with new initiatives; (e) defining a balanced set of outcomes and measures to evaluate the effects of interventions focused on reducing unnecessary exposure to antibiotics; (f) conducting robust evaluations of ASPs with built-in process evaluations and fidelity assessments; (g) defining and designing ASPs; (h) establishing the evidence base for impact of ASPs on resistance; (i) investigating the role and impact of government and policy contexts on ASPs; and (j) understanding what matters to patients in ASPs in hospitals. Conclusions Assessment, revisions and updates of our priority-setting exercise should be considered at intervals of 2 years. To propose research priority areas in low- and middle-income countries, the methodology reported here could be applied.

This project has received funding from the Research Council of Norway (RCN) through the Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance (JPIAMR) call 4 (2016). Costs included travel costs, running face to-face meetings and dissemination of results. The HSRU is core funded by the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates. JMG holds a Canada research Chair in Health Knowledge Transfer an Uptake. EC is funded by National Institute of Health Research Imperial Biomedical Research Centre and the National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit (NIHR HPRU) in Healthcare Associated Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance at Imperial College London and the Economic and Social Research Council. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. ; Peer reviewed ; Publisher PDF