Hospital pediatrics | 2021
Decreasing Unnecessary Antibiotic Usage in Patients Admitted With Bronchiolitis.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES\nBronchiolitis is a viral syndrome that occurs in children aged <2 years and is a common reason for admission to children s hospitals. The American Academy of Pediatrics bronchiolitis guideline discourages routine antibiotic therapy for bronchiolitis. Despite this, there is high use of antibiotics in this patient population.\n\n\nMETHODS\nWe performed a retrospective chart review of all patients aged ≤2 years admitted to our tertiary care center with bronchiolitis during 2 subsequent respiratory seasons. Between the 2 seasons, we provided an intervention to our hospital medicine group, which included a didactic review of American Academy of Pediatrics bronchiolitis guideline followed by subsequent, ongoing reinforcement from antibiotic stewardship weekday rounds.\n\n\nRESULTS\nWe were able to achieve a 40% decrease in overall antibiotic use between the 2 study periods (25% vs 15%, P < .001).\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nProvider education, along with focused antibiotic stewardship audits with real-time feedback, resulted in decreased use of antibiotics in patients admitted with bronchiolitis.