Effect of an antimicrobial stewardship bundle for patients with Clostridium difficile infection

The study objective was to determine whether there was an improvement in compliance with recommended Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) treatment after introduction of an institutional CDI bundle with daily antimicrobial stewardship assessment.

This was a single-centre, quasi-experimental study evaluating compliance with an antimicrobial stewardship team-implemented care bundle in patients with CDI compared with historical controls. The primary outcome, compliance with overall bundle elements, was achieved when the following measures were accomplished: (i) appropriate CDI antimicrobial therapy based on the institutional treatment algorithm; (ii) discontinuation of acid-suppressant therapy in the absence of a pre-specified indication; and (iii) discontinuation of unnecessary antimicrobials. Secondary objectives were to evaluate the extent to which antimicrobial stewardship involvement affected treatment compliance and to assess trends in CDI clinical outcomes, such as mortality and readmission.

One-hundred-and-sixty-nine patients were evaluated; 83 after implementation of the care bundle (bundle group) and 89 prior to bundle implementation (historical control group). Compliance with overall bundle endpoints was significantly higher in the bundle group versus the control group (81% versus 45%, P < 0.001). Individual bundle components that were significantly improved in the bundle group were discontinuation of non-essential acid suppressants (90% versus 18%, P < 0.001) and administration of appropriate CDI therapy (82% versus 64%, P < 0.009). No significant differences were observed in overall or CDI-related mortality or readmissions, durations of therapy or reduction of non-essential concomitant antimicrobials.

Introduction of an antimicrobial stewardship bundle for CDI significantly improved adherence to institutional treatment recommendations and overall management of patients with CDI.