Improving Antimicrobial Prescribing Practices in the Neonatal ICU (iNAP)

Improving Antimicrobial Prescribing Practices in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

To determine if 3 randomly assigned bundles of stewardship interventions would reduce overall and inappropriate antimicrobial use in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), a pre-post study was performed in 4 NICUs.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Infants in Neonatal Intensive Care Units
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Education Plus (E+); Other: Clinical Decision Support; Other: Prescriber Audit and Feedback

Detailed Description

Antimicrobial stewardship can improve the safety and quality of healthcare, reduce antimicrobial resistance, and reduce healthcare costs. However, the optimal strategies for the NICU population are unknown and few studies have evaluated the impact of stewardship in this population. To determine if 3 randomly assigned bundles of stewardship interventions would reduce overall and inappropriate antimicrobial use in the NICU. The investigators hypothesized that the bundle using all three interdisciplinary antimicrobial stewardship strategies (education, computer decision support and prescriber audit and feedback) would more effectively reduce overall and inappropriate antimicrobial use compared to usual care. A pre-post intervention study (one baseline year without interventions - May 1, 2009 - April 30, 2010, followed by two years of interventions - May 1, 2010 - April 30, 2012) was performed in 4 academically affiliated, level III NICUs. The sites were randomly assigned to usual care, one intervention, two interventions, or three interventions.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 6184
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Delaware
    • Wilmington, Delaware, United States, 19899
      • Christiana Care Health Sciences
  • New York
    • New York, New York, United States, 10032
      • Columbia University Medical Center
    • New York, New York, United States, 10065
      • Weill Cornell University Medical Center
  • Pennsylvania
    • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19104
      • Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• infants admitted to study NICUs <7 days of age who remained hospitalized 4 days or more days

Exclusion Criteria:

• Infants admitted to study NICUs 7 days of age and older who were hospitalized less than 4 days

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

4

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Other: NICU A - E+, CDS, and PAF; This site was assigned to three interventions, Education Plus (E+), Clinical Decision Support (CDS), and Prescriber Audit and Feedback (PAB).	Other: Education Plus (E+); Education Plus was an intervention developed by the study team based on the Center for Disease Control (CDC) 12 Step Campaign to Prevent Antimicrobial Resistance in Healthcare Settings. The study team provided Education Plus quarterly to prescribers at the three sites (NICU A, B, C) randomized to this intervention. Examples of topics presented were an overview of antimicrobial stewardship principles, epidemiology of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), prevention of surgical site infections, antimicrobial susceptibility testing, and pharmacokinetic principles. Educational formats included didactic lectures, participation via the audience response system, case vignettes, and panel discussions.; Other: Clinical Decision Support; The CDS tool was an intervention developed in consultation with neonatologists and pediatric infectious disease physicians from NICU A and B. Algorithms for empiric and targeted antimicrobial therapy for common pathogens and common clinical scenarios using local antimicrobial susceptibility patterns were developed. The CDS tool also provided additional components to facilitate antimicrobial prescribing, e.g., patient weight, day of life, previous culture results, antimicrobial orders, and selected laboratory results including white blood cell and platelet count, C-reactive protein, creatinine, and therapeutic drug levels. NICUs A and B also received E+; Other: Prescriber Audit and Feedback; The prescriber audit and feedback (PAF) intervention was developed by the study team which held focus groups with neonatologists at NICU A (the site randomized to this intervention) to determine the feedback parameters and feedback format as previously described. Neonatologists at NICU A were provided aggregated prescribing data bimonthly that described inappropriate use as described below and prolonged therapy (>7 days) for culture-negative late onset sepsis. NICU A also received CDS and E+.
Other: NICU B - E+ and CDS; This site was assigned to two interventions, Education Plus (E+) and Clinical Decision Support (CDS).	Other: Education Plus (E+); Education Plus was an intervention developed by the study team based on the Center for Disease Control (CDC) 12 Step Campaign to Prevent Antimicrobial Resistance in Healthcare Settings. The study team provided Education Plus quarterly to prescribers at the three sites (NICU A, B, C) randomized to this intervention. Examples of topics presented were an overview of antimicrobial stewardship principles, epidemiology of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), prevention of surgical site infections, antimicrobial susceptibility testing, and pharmacokinetic principles. Educational formats included didactic lectures, participation via the audience response system, case vignettes, and panel discussions.; Other: Clinical Decision Support; The CDS tool was an intervention developed in consultation with neonatologists and pediatric infectious disease physicians from NICU A and B. Algorithms for empiric and targeted antimicrobial therapy for common pathogens and common clinical scenarios using local antimicrobial susceptibility patterns were developed. The CDS tool also provided additional components to facilitate antimicrobial prescribing, e.g., patient weight, day of life, previous culture results, antimicrobial orders, and selected laboratory results including white blood cell and platelet count, C-reactive protein, creatinine, and therapeutic drug levels. NICUs A and B also received E+
Other: NICU C - E+; This site was assigned to one intervention, Education Plus (E+).	Other: Education Plus (E+); Education Plus was an intervention developed by the study team based on the Center for Disease Control (CDC) 12 Step Campaign to Prevent Antimicrobial Resistance in Healthcare Settings. The study team provided Education Plus quarterly to prescribers at the three sites (NICU A, B, C) randomized to this intervention. Examples of topics presented were an overview of antimicrobial stewardship principles, epidemiology of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), prevention of surgical site infections, antimicrobial susceptibility testing, and pharmacokinetic principles. Educational formats included didactic lectures, participation via the audience response system, case vignettes, and panel discussions.
No Intervention: NICU D - Usual Care; This site was not introduced to an interdisciplinary intervention.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Overall Antimicrobial Use measured as days of therapy per 100 patient-days	The indications for initiation of intravenous antimicrobials were categorized as initiation of empiric therapy (antibiotics started prior to culture results), definitive therapy (culture results available prior to initiation of antibiotics), or prophylaxis (e.g., antibiotics for postoperative prophylaxis).	Through study completion for 2 years

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Length of therapy per 100 patient-days	2 agents received on same day counted as one day	Through study completion for 2 years
Inappropriate Antimicrobial Use	Determined on 4th calendar-day of treatment as redundant therapy and failure to target the pathogen	Through study completion for 2 years
Number of infants initiated on ineffective empiric therapy	Initiation of ineffective empiric therapy for infants thought to be infected	Through study completion for 2 years
Proportion of infants treated for culture negative late onset sepsis	The proportion of infants treated for culture negative late onset sepsis lasting more than 7 days	Through study completion for 2 years

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Columbia University
• Collaborators: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR); Weill Medical College of Cornell University; Christiana Care Health Services
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Lisa Saiman, MD, MPH, Columbia University

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Larson EL, Patel SJ, Evans D, Saiman L. Feedback as a strategy to change behaviour: the devil is in the details. J Eval Clin Pract. 2013 Apr;19(2):230-4. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2753.2011.01801.x. Epub 2011 Nov 29.
• Patel SJ, Saiman L, Duchon JM, Evans D, Ferng YH, Larson E. Development of an antimicrobial stewardship intervention using a model of actionable feedback. Interdiscip Perspect Infect Dis. 2012;2012:150367. doi: 10.1155/2012/150367. Epub 2012 Feb 21.
• Hum RS, Cato K, Sheehan B, Patel S, Duchon J, DeLaMora P, Ferng YH, Graham P, Vawdrey DK, Perlman J, Larson E, Saiman L. Developing clinical decision support within a commercial electronic health record system to improve antimicrobial prescribing in the neonatal ICU. Appl Clin Inform. 2014 Apr 9;5(2):368-87. doi: 10.4338/ACI-2013-09-RA-0069. eCollection 2014.
• Prasad PA, Wong-McLoughlin J, Patel S, Coffin SE, Zaoutis TE, Perlman J, DeLaMora P, Alba L, Ferng YH, Saiman L. Surgical site infections in a longitudinal cohort of neonatal intensive care unit patients. J Perinatol. 2016 Apr;36(4):300-5. doi: 10.1038/jp.2015.191. Epub 2015 Dec 10.
• Patel SJ, Green N, Clock SA, Paul DA, Perlman JM, Zaoutis T, Ferng YH, Alba L, Jia H, Larson EL, Saiman L. Gram-Negative Bacilli in Infants Hospitalized in The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. J Pediatric Infect Dis Soc. 2017 Sep 1;6(3):227-230. doi: 10.1093/jpids/piw032.
• Clock SA, Ferng YH, Tabibi S, Alba L, Patel SJ, Jia H, DeLaMora P, Perlman JM, Paul DA, Zaoutis T, Larson EL, Saiman L. Colonization With Antimicrobial-Resistant Gram-Negative Bacilli at Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Discharge. J Pediatric Infect Dis Soc. 2017 Sep 1;6(3):219-226. doi: 10.1093/jpids/piw014.
• Ferng YH, Clock SA, Wong-Mcloughlin J, DeLaMora PA, Perlman JM, Gray KS, Paul DA, Prasad PA, Zaoutis TE, Alba LR, Whittier S, Larson EL, Saiman L. Multicenter Study of Hand Carriage of Potential Pathogens by Neonatal ICU Healthcare Personnel. J Pediatric Infect Dis Soc. 2015 Sep;4(3):276-9. doi: 10.1093/jpids/piu022. Epub 2014 Mar 30.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 1, 2009
• Primary Completion (Actual): April 30, 2012
• Study Completion (Actual): April 30, 2012

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 2, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 8, 2017
• First Posted (Actual): March 14, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 14, 2017
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 8, 2017
• Last Verified: March 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: antimicrobial stewardship; Neonatal ICU
• Other Study ID Numbers: AAAC6366; 1R01NR010821-01 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract); 1R21NR010823-01 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No