Reducing Hospitalisations With a Skin and Soft Tissue Infection Clinic.

Area of Science:

• Infectious Diseases
• Quality Improvement in Healthcare
• Outpatient Management

Background:

• Many patients with skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) are hospitalized unnecessarily.
• Evidence suggests that many SSTIs can be safely managed in an outpatient setting.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of an outpatient SSTI program on hospital inpatient days.
• To assess the effectiveness of a quality improvement initiative in managing SSTIs.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of an outpatient care pathway for suspected SSTIs within an internal medicine clinic.
• Addition of advanced practice wound care nurses to the outpatient team.
• Analysis of hospital inpatient days for SSTIs pre- and post-intervention (4 years vs. 2 years) with a control site.

Main Results:

• The outpatient SSTI program saw 465 clinic visits in 2 years.
• Median inpatient days for SSTIs decreased by 34% (from 224 to 148 per month) post-intervention.
• No significant reduction in inpatient days was observed at the control site.

Conclusions:

• An outpatient SSTI program significantly reduced hospital inpatient days by 34%.
• Enhancing outpatient clinics with streamlined pathways and interdisciplinary expertise is beneficial for managing SSTIs.
• The study highlights the potential for outpatient management to improve healthcare efficiency and patient outcomes.