Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32943129›Full record

ArticleInfection control and hospital epidemiology2021

Using diagnostic stewardship to reduce rates, healthcare expenditures and accurately identify cases of hospital-onset

Dipesh Solanky, Derek K Juang, Scott T Johns, Ian C Drobish, Sanjay R Mehta, Monika Kumaraswamy

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Infection control and hospital epidemiology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed
0.3field-weighted citation impact, top 27% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed, 19 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Diagnosis ofJournal of medical microbiology · 2024
    Review
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Trends in facility-level rates ofInfection control and hospital epidemiology · 2023
    Article
  7. Role of diagnostic stewardship in reducing healthcare-facility-onsetAntimicrobial stewardship & healthcare epidemiology : ASHE · 2023
    Article
  8. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Dipesh SolankyDepartment of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California.
Derek K Juang *Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California.
Scott T Johns *Department of Pharmacy, VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, California.
Ian C DrobishDepartment of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California.
Sanjay R MehtaDepartment of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California.
Monika KumaraswamyDepartment of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California.ORCID 0000-0002-3867-4268
University of California San Diego · USVA San Diego Healthcare System · US

Funding

UC San Diego Clinical and Translational Research InstituteKL2TR001444 · NCATS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · PI DEPP, COLIN A. · 2015 to 2024
$15.4M
NCATS NIH HHS KL2 TR001444
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveLack of judicious testing can result in the incorrect diagnosis of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI), unnecessary CDI treatment, increased costs and falsely augmented hospital-acquired infection (HAI) rates. We evaluated facility-wide interventions used at the VA San Diego Healthcare System (VASDHS) to reduce healthcare-onset, healthcare-facility-associated CDI (HO-HCFA CDI), including the use of diagnostic stewardship with test ordering criteria.

designWe conducted a retrospective study to assess the effectiveness of measures implemented to reduce the rate of HO-HCFA CDI at the VASDHS from fiscal year (FY)2015 to FY2018.

interventionsMeasures executed in a stepwise fashion included a hand hygiene initiative, prompt isolation of CDI patients, enhanced terminal room cleaning, reduction of fluoroquinolone and proton-pump inhibitor use, laboratory rejection of solid stool samples, and lastly diagnostic stewardship with C. difficile toxin B gene nucleic acid amplification testing (NAAT) criteria instituted in FY2018.

resultsFrom FY2015 to FY2018, 127 cases of HO-HCFA CDI were identified. All rate-reducing initiatives resulted in decreased HO-HCFA cases (from 44 to 13; P ≤ .05). However, the number of HO-HCFA cases (34 to 13; P ≤ .05), potential false-positive testing associated with colonization and laxative use (from 11 to 4), hospital days (from 596 to 332), CDI-related hospitalization costs (from $2,780,681 to $1,534,190) and treatment cost (from $7,158 vs $1,476) decreased substantially following the introduction of diagnostic stewardship with test criteria from FY2017 to FY2018.

conclusionsInitiatives to decrease risk for CDI and diagnostic stewardship of C. difficile stool NAAT significantly reduced HO-HCFA CDI rates, detection of potential false-positives associated with laxative use, and lowered healthcare costs. Diagnostic stewardship itself had the most dramatic impact on outcomes observed and served as an effective tool in reducing HO-HCFA CDI rates.

Indexed as

Bacterial ToxinsClostridioides difficileClostridium InfectionsCross InfectionClostridioidesHealth ExpendituresHospitalsHumansRetrospective StudiesBacterial Toxins

Identifiers

PMID32943129
PMCPMC9215221
OpenAlexW3087350399

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.