| Title: |
Implementation of a cellulitis management plan in three australian regional health services to address an evidence–practice gap in antibiotic prescribing |
| Authors: |
Bishop, J; Jones, M; Farquharson, J; Summerhayes, K; Tucker, R; Smith, M; Cowan, R; Friedman, ND; Schulz, T; Kong, D; Buising, K |
| Publisher Information: |
MDPI |
| Publication Year: |
2021 |
| Collection: |
The University of Melbourne: Digital Repository |
| Description: |
Despite the availability of evidence-based guidelines, antibiotics for cellulitis remain inappropriately prescribed. This evidence-practice gap is more evident in low-resource settings, such as rural hospitals. This implementation study developed and introduced a cellulitis management plan to improve antibiotic prescribing for cellulitis in three health services in regional Australia. Appropriateness of antibiotic prescribing for cellulitis at Day 1 was the primary outcome measure. Adults with ICD-10-AM codes for lower-limb cellulitis admitted as inpatients of the three health services between May and November 2019 (baseline, n = 165) and March and October 2020 (post-implementation, n = 127) were included in the assessment. The uptake of the cellulitis management plan was 29.1% (37/127). The appropriateness of antibiotic prescribing for cellulitis at Day 1 was similar at baseline (78.7%, 144/183) and in the intention-to-treat post-implementation group (81.8%, 126/154) [95% CI -5.6% to 11.3%, p = 0.50]. Commencement of the cellulitis management plan resulted in a non-statistically significant increase in antibiotic appropriateness at Day 1 compared to when a cellulitis management plan was not commenced (88.1% vs. 79.5%; 95% CI -5.6% to 19.8%; p = 0.20) Evaluation of more real-world strategies to address evidence-practice gaps, such as the appropriateness of antibiotic prescribing for cellulitis, is required. |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| Language: |
English |
| ISSN: |
2079-6382 |
| Relation: |
NHMRC/1079625; pii: antibiotics10111288; Bishop, J., Jones, M., Farquharson, J., Summerhayes, K., Tucker, R., Smith, M., Cowan, R., Friedman, N. D., Schulz, T., Kong, D. & Buising, K. (2021). Implementation of a cellulitis management plan in three australian regional health services to address an evidence–practice gap in antibiotic prescribing. Antibiotics, 10 (11), https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics10111288.; https://hdl.handle.net/11343/296574 |
| Availability: |
https://hdl.handle.net/11343/296574 |
| Rights: |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 ; CC BY |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.8FCAAD1 |
| Database: |
BASE |