In The News: National Collaborative Improves Antibiotic Prescribing for Common Pediatric Infections

Healio covers a report on promising results from a national antimicrobial stewardship initiative involving 133 hospitals. The Better Antibiotic Selection in Children (BASiC) project is managed by the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Value in Inpatient Pediatrics (VIP) Network. It takes aim at increasing the percentage of children who receive appropriate antibiotics for community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), skin and soft tissue infections, and urinary tract infections.

Up to half of antibiotic prescriptions for children, according to the report, are either inappropriate or unnecessary. As a result, these children are at risk of experiencing adverse effects while contributing to possible increases in antibiotic resistance. BASiC collected 18 months of baseline data from July 2019 to December 2020, followed by an additional year after intervention, from March 2021 to February 2022. The hospitals participating in the initiative conducted order sets, chart audits, educational webinars, academic detailing and introduced a mobile app to help guide and improve antibiotic prescribing at the hospitals.

BASiC results showed adherence to the recommendations for the three targeted common pediatric infections produced an increase on average by 1.05% month over month. Comparatively, no improvements were shown during the baseline period. A further subanalysis of children with CAP and UTIs showed improvement over baseline. The BASiC program improved antibiotic prescribing and suggested providers should partner with pharmacist, emergency and infectious diseases colleagues to improve practices at individual hospitals.

PIDS member Russell McCulloh, an author of the report, said, “What we demonstrated was that partnering across disciplines to improve antibiotic use is effective. You can achieve big change.” Buddy Creech, PIDS president, also provided a companion perspective for the article.