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"A structured ID physician and nurse-led OPAT program was associated with a decrease in OPAT-related readmissions and improved clinical cure" Agnihotri et al (2023).
OPAT-related readmission decreased

Abstract:

Objective: To determine whether a structured OPAT program supervised by an infectious disease physician and led by an OPAT nurse decreased hospital readmission rates and OPAT-related complications and whether it affected clinical cure. We also evaluated predictors of readmission while receiving OPAT.

Patients: A convenience sample of 428 patients admitted to a tertiary-care hospital in Chicago, Illinois, with infections requiring intravenous antibiotic therapy after hospital discharge.

Methods: In this retrospective, quasi-experimental study, we compared patients discharged on intravenous antimicrobials from an OPAT program before and after implementation of a structured ID physician and nurse-led OPAT program. The preintervention group consisted of patients discharged on OPAT managed by individual physicians without central program oversight or nurse care coordination. All-cause and OPAT-related readmissions were compared using the χ2 test. Factors associated with readmission for OPAT-related problems at a significance level of P < .10 in univariate analysis were eligible for testing in a forward, stepwise, multinomial, logistic regression to identify independent predictors of readmission.

Results: In total, 428 patients were included in the study. Unplanned OPAT-related hospital readmissions decreased significantly after implementation of the structured OPAT program (17.8% vs 7%; P = .003). OPAT-related readmission reasons included infection recurrence or progression (53%), adverse drug reaction (26%), or line-associated issues (21%). Independent predictors of hospital readmission due to OPAT-related events included vancomycin administration and longer length of outpatient therapy. Clinical cure increased from 69.8% before the intervention to 94.9% after the intervention (P < .001).

Conclusion: A structured ID physician and nurse-led OPAT program was associated with a decrease in OPAT-related readmissions and improved clinical cure.

Reference:

Agnihotri G, Gross AE, Seok M, Yen CY, Khan F, Ebbitt LM, Gay C, Bleasdale SC, Sikka MK, Trotter AB. Decreased hospital readmissions after programmatic strengthening of an outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT) program. Antimicrob Steward Healthc Epidemiol. 2023 Feb 21;3(1):e33. doi: 10.1017/ash.2022.330. PMID: 36865701; PMCID: PMC9972539.