Reducing antibiotic duration for acute otitis media: clinician, administrator, and parental insights to inform implementation of system-level interventions.

Objective: This qualitative study aimed to understand facilitators and barriers to implementation of interventions to improve guideline-concordant antibiotic duration prescribing for pediatric acute otitis media (AOM).

Design: Clinicians and clinic administrators participated in semi-structured qualitative interviews, and parents of children 2 years of age or older with a recent diagnosis of AOM participated in focus groups. The Practical Robust Implementation and Sustainability Model (PRISM) guided the study. Interviews were analyzed using the Rapid Assessment Process.

Setting: Denver Health and Hospital Authority (Denver, CO) led the study. Recruitment occurred at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (Nashville, TN) and Washington University in St. Louis Medical Center (St. Louis, MO).

Participants: Purposeful sampling was used to recruit clinicians and administrators for qualitative interviews. Convenience sampling was used to recruit parents for focus groups.

Results: Thirty-one participants (15 clinicians, 4 administrators, and 12 parents) engaged in interviews and focus groups. Factors influencing antibiotic prescribing included patient history, years of practice, familiarity with the patient, concerns with patient medication adherence, and practice type. Clinicians endorsed electronic health record modifications and clinician prescribing feedback as methods to improve patient care and reduce the durations of prescribed antibiotics. Suggestions for intervention optimization and education needs were also obtained.

Conclusions: Findings suggest that clinicians and administrators support reducing prescribed antibiotic durations for AOM and are receptive to the proposed interventions. More education is needed to increase parent awareness about antibiotic stewardship and AOM treatment options.

Clinical Trials Identifier: RELAX: Reducing Length of Antibiotics for Children with Ear Infections (RELAX), NCT05608993, https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05608993.