Quality improvement intervention may help reduce Overuse of Antibiotics in Pediatric Conjunctivitis

Notably, nurse triage encounters witnessed the most substantial reduction in antibiotic prescribing, with an impressive 82.1% decrease. This marked a dramatic shift from 92.6% antibiotic prescription rates to just 10.5% during nurse triage encounters.

Critically, the study revealed that reducing antibiotic use did not result in an increase in treatment failure rates or healthcare utilization. Treatment failure occurred in 18.7% of cases, with a slightly higher rate (20.0%) among children who received ophthalmic antibiotics compared to those who did not (17.9%).

These findings highlight the success of the QI intervention in Denver, which effectively reduced the unnecessary prescription of ophthalmic antibiotics for pediatric conjunctivitis. Not only does this help prevent overuse of antibiotics, which contributes to antibiotic resistance, but it also demonstrates that judicious use of antibiotics in this context does not compromise the quality of care provided to young patients. This successful intervention in Denver may serve as a model for healthcare systems seeking to improve their antibiotic prescribing practices for pediatric conjunctivitis. 

Source:

Sebastian, T., Durfee, J., Wittmer, N., Jack, J., Keith, A., Jenkins, T. C., & Frost, H. M. (2023). Reducing Ophthalmic Antibiotic Use for Non-severe Conjunctivitis in Children. In Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society. Oxford University Press (OUP). https://doi.org/10.1093/jpids/piad065