Impact of quality clusters on antibiotic prescribing patterns. A difference-in-differences study from Danish general...

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• General Practice
• Antimicrobial Resistance

Background:

• Antimicrobial resistance necessitates more rational antibiotic use globally.
• Danish general practice introduced quality clusters in 2018 for quality improvement initiatives.
• General practitioners in clusters select topics like antibiotic prescribing for self-improvement.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if engaging with antibiotics in quality clusters improves antibiotic prescribing.
• To determine if the choice and number of quality improvement strategies impact behavior change.

Main Methods:

• Linking register data on antibiotic prescriptions (2015-2020) with survey data (2020).
• Utilizing a difference-in-differences approach with general practice fixed effects.
• Controlling for time-varying patient population characteristics in linear regression models.

Main Results:

• Practices engaged with antibiotic topics increased the proportion of narrow-spectrum antibiotic prescriptions.
• No significant difference was observed in the total number of prescribed antibiotics.
• Neither the choice nor the number of quality improvement strategies influenced behavioral outcomes.

Conclusions:

• Engaging with antibiotic prescribing in quality clusters partially improved antibiotic prescribing practices.
• Quality improvement initiatives can influence specific aspects of antibiotic stewardship.