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Introducing outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy in a children's hospital
1Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield, England.
Insights
Outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT) provides home-based IV antibiotic treatment as an alternative to hospitalization. Pediatric OPAT (P-OPAT) enables children to maintain normal routines while receiving essential care.
Area of Science:
- Infectious Diseases
- Pediatric Care
- Healthcare Management
Background:
- Outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT) has evolved from adult to pediatric populations.
- OPAT offers patient-centered, high-quality care for stable patients needing intravenous antibiotics.
- Pediatric OPAT (P-OPAT) allows children and families to maintain normal life activities.
Purpose of the Study:
- To report on the implementation of P-OPAT at Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust.
- To highlight the challenges and successes encountered during P-OPAT implementation.
- To provide insights into establishing P-OPAT services in a UK pediatric setting.
Main Methods:
- Implementation of a P-OPAT service at Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust.
- Focus on delivering intravenous antibiotics in a non-hospital setting.
- Monitoring of challenges and successes during the initial phase of P-OPAT.
Main Results:
- Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust successfully implemented P-OPAT in June 2016.
- The implementation involved addressing specific challenges inherent in pediatric care.
- The service demonstrated potential for successful integration into the UK healthcare system.
Conclusions:
- P-OPAT is a viable and beneficial model for pediatric care in the UK.
- Successful implementation requires careful planning to overcome challenges.
- P-OPAT facilitates a return to normal life for children and their families.
Abstract:
Outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT) offers an alternative to inpatient care for delivering intravenous antibiotics in patients' homes or in a day care clinic setting. It was first introduced in North America in the 1970s and has evolved over the years, starting with the adult population and now moving to the paediatric population ( Chapman 2013 ). OPAT has the potential to offer excellent, patient-centred, high-quality care to treat a wide variety of infectious conditions in patients who are medically stable and do not need hospitalisation. For children and young people OPAT has the potential for families to resume their normal lives: returning to work, school and home. Paediatric OPAT (P-OPAT) is being implemented across the UK, with five centres now established. This article reports on the implementation of P-OPAT at Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust (Sheffield Children's) in June 2016, highlighting the challenges and successes.