Effect of an antimicrobial stewardship intervention on outcomes for patients with Clostridium difficile infection

Although antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) are uniquely positioned to improve treatment of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) through targeted interventions, studies to date have not rigorously evaluated the influence of ASP involvement on clinical outcomes attributed to CDI.

We performed a quasiexperimental study of adult patients with CDI before (n = 307) and after (n = 285) a real-time ASP review was initiated. In the intervention group, an ASP pharmacist was notified of positive CDI results and consulted with the care team to initiate optimal therapy, minimize concomitant antibiotic and acid-suppressive therapy, and recommend surgical/infectious diseases consultation in complicated cases. The primary outcome was a composite of attributable 30-day mortality, intensive care unit admission, colectomy/ileostomy, and recurrence.

A higher percentage of patients in the ASP intervention group had acid-suppressive therapy discontinued (30% vs 13%; P < .01). Among patients with severe CDI, more patients in the intervention group received an infectious diseases consultation (17% vs 10%; P = .04), received appropriate therapy with oral vancomycin (87% vs 59%; P <.01), and vancomycin was initiated earlier (mean, 1.1 vs 1.7 days; P <.01). Incidence of the composite outcome was not significantly different between the 2 groups (12.3% vs 14.7%; P = .40).

ASP review and intervention improved CDI process measures. A decrease in composite outcomes was not found, which may be due to low baseline rates of attributable complications in our institution.