In the absence of pyuria, positive urine cultures are unlikely to represent infection. Conditional urine reflex culture policies have the potential to limit unnecessary urine culturing. We evaluated the impact of this diagnostic stewardship intervention.

We conducted a retrospective, quasi-experimental (nonrandomized) study, with interrupted time series, from August 2013 to January 2018 to examine rates of urine cultures before versus after the policy intervention. We compared 3 intervention sites to 3 control sites in an aggregated series using segmented negative binomial regression.

The study included 6 acute-care hospitals within the Veterans’ Health Administration across the United States.

Adult patients with at least 1 urinalysis ordered during acute-care admission, excluding pregnant patients or those undergoing urological procedures, were included.

At the intervention sites, urine cultures were performed if a preceding urinalysis met prespecified criteria. No such restrictions occurred at the control sites. The primary outcome was the rate of urine cultures performed per 1,000 patient days. The safety outcome was the rate of gram-negative bloodstream infection per 1,000 patient days.

The study included 224,573 urine cultures from 50,901 admissions in 24,759 unique patients. Among the intervention sites, the overall average number of urine cultures performed did not significantly decrease relative to the preintervention period (5.9% decrease; P = 0.8) but did decrease by 21% relative to control sites (P < .01). We detected no significant difference in the rates of gram-negative bloodstream infection among intervention or control sites (P = .49).

Conditional urine reflex culture policies were associated with a decrease in urine culturing without a change in the incidence of gram-negative bloodstream infection.

To detail the activities of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Antimicrobial Stewardship Initiative and evaluate outcomes of the program.

Observational analysis.

The VHA is a large integrated healthcare system serving approximately 6 million individuals annually at more than 140 medical facilities.

Utilization of nationally developed resources, proportional distribution of antibiotics, changes in stewardship practices and patient safety measures were reported. In addition, inpatient antimicrobial use was evaluated before and after implementation of national stewardship activities.

Nationally developed stewardship resources were well utilized, and many stewardship practices significantly increased, including development of written stewardship policies at 92% of facilities by 2015 (P<.05). While the proportional distribution of antibiotics did not change, inpatient antibiotic use significantly decreased after VHA Antimicrobial Stewardship Initiative activities began (P<.0001). A 12% decrease in antibiotic use was noted overall. The VHA has also noted significantly declining use of antimicrobials prescribed for resistant Gram-negative organisms, including carbapenems, as well as declining hospital readmission and mortality rates. Concurrently, the VHA reported decreasing rates of Clostridium difficile infection.

The VHA National Antimicrobial Stewardship Initiative includes continuing education, disease-specific guidelines, and development of example policies in addition to other highly utilized resources. While no specific ideal level of antimicrobial utilization has been established, the VHA has shown that improving antimicrobial usage in a large healthcare system may be achieved through national guidance and resources with local implementation of antimicrobial stewardship programs.

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2017;38:513–520

To assess the degree to which, from 1987 to 1990, physicians suspected tuberculosis (TB) in the first 2 hospital days in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients with pulmonary disease.

Retrospective cohort study.

96 hospitals in five US cities.

2,174 adult patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome discharged with a diagnosis of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia from 1987 to 1990. The diagnosis generally was not known on admission.

Physicians suspected TB in the first 2 hospital days in 66% of these patients in 1987, a rate that increased steadily to 74% in 1990. However, the extent to which physicians considered TB among female patients decreased from 76% to 71% over the 4 years. Controlling for confounding variables by multiple logistic regression, the odds that TB would be suspected early increased 1.8-fold among men (odds ratio [OR], 1.8; 95% confidence interval [CI95], 1.4-2.4), but not in women (OR, 0.6; CI95, 0.2-1.9). Among the five cities, the odds of early suspicion of TB increased most in New York City (OR, 3.9; CI95, 2.0-7.9).

Physicians considered TB in a timely manner in an increasing majority of male, but not female, high-risk patients during the first years of TB resurgence in the United States. Physicians must be aware of the changing epidemiology of HIV and TB, as well as their practice patterns, to prevent nosocomial transmission of this disease