Model may help hospitals reduce antibiotic treatment

Careful prescribing of antibiotic use at hospital discharge could slow the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance, a study found. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality-supported research, published in Clinical Infectious Diseases, built a risk-adjusted predictive model for antibiotic therapy length after discharge to measure the frequency and length of antibiotics prescribed at discharge. They reviewed 1.8 million stays at 129 Veterans Health Administration hospitals from 2018 to 2021. They found nearly 20% of patients received antibiotics at discharge for about seven days. However, 30% of hospitals gave fewer antibiotics and shorter treatments, while 22% of hospitals gave antibiotics more frequently and for longer than needed. They conclude hospitals can use the metric to identify opportunities for enhanced antibiotic stewardship at discharge. (AHRQ News Now article, 2/18/25)