Evaluate the clinical impact of the implementation of VERIGENE gram-positive blood culture testing (BC-GP) coupled with antimicrobial stewardship result notification for children with positive blood cultures.

Quasi-experimental study.

Quaternary children’s hospital.

Hospitalized children aged 0–21 years with positive blood culture events 1 year before and 1 year after implementation of BC-GP testing.

The primary outcome was time to optimal antibiotic therapy for positive blood cultures, defined as receiving definitive therapy without unnecessary antibiotics (pathogens) or no antibiotics (contaminants). Secondary outcomes were time to effective therapy, time to definitive therapy, and time to stopping vancomycin, length of stay, and 30-day mortality. Time-to-therapy outcomes before and after the intervention were compared using Cox regression models and interrupted time series analyses, adjusting for patient characteristics and trends over time. Gram-negative events were included as a nonequivalent dependent variable.

We included 264 preintervention events (191 gram-positive, 73 gram-negative) and 257 postintervention events (168 gram-positive, 89 gram-negative). The median age was 2.9 years (interquartile range, 0.3–10.1), and 418 pediatric patients (80.2%) had ≥1 complex chronic condition. For gram-positive isolates, implementation of BC-GP testing was associated with an immediate reduction in time to optimal therapy and time to stopping vancomycin for both analyses. BC-GP testing was associated with decreased time to definitive therapy in interrupted time series analysis but not Cox modeling. No such changes were observed for gram-negative isolates. No changes in time to effective therapy, length of stay, or mortality were associated with BC-GP.

The implementation of BC-GP testing coupled with antimicrobial stewardship result notification was associated with decreased time to optimal therapy and time to stopping vancomycin for hospitalized children with gram-positive blood culture isolates.

To evaluate whether incorporating mandatory prior authorization for Clostridioides difficile testing into antimicrobial stewardship pharmacist workflow could reduce testing in patients with alternative etiologies for diarrhea.

Single center, quasi-experimental before-and-after study.

Tertiary-care, academic medical center in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Adult and pediatric patients admitted between September 11, 2019 and December 10, 2019 were included if they had an order placed for 1 of the following: (1) C. difficile enzyme immunoassay (EIA) in patients hospitalized >72 hours and received laxatives, oral contrast, or initiated tube feeds within the prior 48 hours, (2) repeat molecular multiplex gastrointestinal pathogen panel (GIPAN) testing, or (3) GIPAN testing in patients hospitalized >72 hours.

A best-practice alert prompting prior authorization by the antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP) for EIA or GIPAN testing was implemented. Approval required the provider to page the ASP pharmacist and discuss rationale for testing. The provider could not proceed with the order if ASP approval was not obtained.

An average of 2.5 requests per day were received over the 3-month intervention period. The weekly rate of EIA and GIPAN orders per 1,000 patient days decreased significantly from 6.05 ± 0.94 to 4.87 ± 0.78 (IRR, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.56–0.93; P = .010) and from 1.72 ± 0.37 to 0.89 ± 0.29 (IRR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.37–0.77; P = .001), respectively.

We identified an efficient, effective C. difficile and GIPAN diagnostic stewardship approval model.