Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

5-1-2022

Publication Title

American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine

Abstract

Rationale: Delayed antibiotic therapy is associated with increased mortality in patients hospitalized with infection. The decision toinitiate therapy in patients with suspected infection is influenced by a variety of information, such as vital signs, and laboratoryresults. Identifying different patterns of events that lead to initiation is necessary to discover factors that could serve as targets forinterventions to expedite this process. We aimed to identify the most common sequences of events that precede antibioticordering and to quantify the time intervals between each event that contribute to antibiotic delays. Methods: This was aretrospective study of adult patients hospitalized at 4 community hospitals from 2017 to 2021 with blood cultures ordered within24 hours of triage. Vital signs, laboratory results, medications, and demographics were collected from the electronic health recordat each site. Key events related to clinical decision making – triage time, blood culture order, first complete blood count (CBC)result, and first antibiotic order – were arranged in chronological order for each patient. The most common sequences thatoccurred in at least 5% of patients were identified, and the time interval between each event was calculated. In-hospital mortalityand frequency of sepsis, defined using Sepsis-3, were compared across pathways. Results: A total of 7502 patients wereincluded in the five most common event pathways (94% of eligible patients). As shown in the Figure, the most frequent first eventafter triage was blood culture order (48%; n=3954), followed by CBC results (42%; n=3127), and first antibiotic order (4%;n=421). Median time to antibiotic order was shortest in the blood culture order path (47 minutes [IQR: 23-84],) and longest in theCBC followed by blood culture path (268 minutes [IQR: 153-528]). The longest delays occurred after CBC results (median [IQR],minutes): 109 [35-195] to antibiotic order and 108 [40-267] to blood culture order in the CBC first pathway, and 89 [36-239] toantibiotic order in the blood culture first pathway. Sepsis prevalence and unadjusted mortality were lowest in the CBC firstpathways (44% and 6%), and highest in the blood culture followed by antibiotic order pathway (54% and 9%). Conclusions:Antibiotic initiation for patients with suspected infection on admission followed five major pathways with considerable variation intime to antibiotic orders. The greatest delays occurred following CBC results. These results highlight opportunities for processimprovement to ensure more timely initiation of antibiotics.

Volume

205

Issue

Suppl

First Page

A2373

Comments

American Thoracic Society 2022 International Conference, May 13-18, 2022, San Francisco, CA.

DOI

10.1164/ajrccm-conference.2022.205.1_MeetingAbstracts.A2373

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