Effectiveness and safety of mandatory antimicrobial indications and durations and a pharmacist-driven 48-hour time-out in a pediatric hospital.

Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of mandatory antimicrobial indications and durations (MAID) and a pharmacist-driven 48-hour time-out in a pediatric hospital.

Methods: MAID and a 48-hour time-out were implemented on February 14, 2017. Antibiotic days of therapy (DOT) per 1,000 patient days were compared between the pre- and postperiod for select antibiotics using unadjusted Poisson models. A prepost comparison was used to compare antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP) intervention rates between time periods. A 2-step process, including distribution of a discontinuation (DC) report to pharmacists and ASP-prompted reorders, was instituted to reduce unintentional antimicrobial discontinuation with MAID. ASP-prompted reorders occurred only when a discrepancy persisted between the order and provider-desired duration. Missed antimicrobial doses were identified by ASP and the institutional event reporting system. Safety of MAID was assessed by reviewing the rate and details of ASP-prompted reorders and missed antimicrobial doses.

Results: A significant decrease in DOT per 1,000 patient days was observed for cefazolin (39.7 to 36.9; P < 0.001), ampicillin (39.9 to 35.7; P < 0.001), clindamycin (38.2 to 35.9; P < 0.001), ceftriaxone (46.5 to 43.4; P < 0.001), and meropenem (8.7 to 6.6; P < 0.001) following implementation. No change in ASP intervention rate occurred between the pre- and postperiod (16.9 vs 16.8%; P = 0.94). With MAID, ASP-prompted reorder occurred on 7.3% of orders. Unintentional discontinuations resulting in missed antimicrobial doses occurred in 3 orders (0.07%); no patient harm resulted.

Conclusion: MAID and a 48-hour time-out significantly reduced DOT of select antibiotics. No patient harm occurred with the 2-step safety process.