Improving Antibiotic Overuse in Primary Care: A Multimodal Quality Improvement Project

Area of Science:

• Infectious Diseases
• Public Health
• Healthcare Quality Improvement

Background:

• Antibiotic overuse is a significant issue in outpatient settings, with up to 30% of prescriptions being inappropriate.
• Factors contributing to overuse include provider knowledge gaps, perceived patient expectations, time pressures, and concerns about patient satisfaction.
• Viral upper respiratory infections (URIs) are frequently treated with antibiotics despite evidence of their ineffectiveness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To reduce the inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics for viral URIs in an outpatient setting.
• To address provider knowledge gaps and implement evidence-based practices for URI management.
• To improve antibiotic stewardship through a multimodal quality improvement project.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of a multimodal approach including provider education, passive patient education, and clinical decision support tools.
• Utilized Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations and the Be Antibiotic Aware tool for guidance.
• Focused on quality improvement strategies to change prescribing behaviors for viral URIs.

Main Results:

• Achieved an 11% decrease in antibiotic prescribing for viral URIs.
• Prescribing rates reduced from 29.33% to 18.33% post-implementation.
• Demonstrated the effectiveness of the multimodal intervention in reducing inappropriate antibiotic use.

Conclusions:

• Evidence-based education and treatment guidelines are effective in decreasing inappropriate antibiotic prescribing for viral URIs.
• Multimodal quality improvement projects can successfully curb antibiotic overuse.
• Adherence to guidelines like those from the CDC is crucial for antibiotic stewardship.