Abstract
Clostridium difficile infections are common in hospitalized patients and can result in significant morbidity and mortality. It is imperative to optimize the management of C. difficile infections to help minimize disease complications. Antimicrobial stewardship techniques including guidelines, order sets and other clinical decision support functionalities may be utilized to assist with therapy optimization. We implemented a novel alert within our electronic medical record to direct providers to the C. difficile order set in order to assist with initiating therapy consistent with institutional guideline recommendations. The alert succeeded in significantly increasing order set utilization, but guideline compliance was unchanged.
Highlights
Clostridium difficile is currently the most common cause of nosocomial infections in the UnitedStates, with parallel increases being reported in the community [1]
A total of 333 patients were admitted to the hospital with a positive C. difficile nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) result during the entire study period, with 311 patients included in the final analysis
Demographics were similar between groups with the exception of intensive care unit (ICU) admissions upon positive NAAT
Summary
Clostridium difficile is currently the most common cause of nosocomial infections in the UnitedStates, with parallel increases being reported in the community [1]. Clostridium difficile is currently the most common cause of nosocomial infections in the United. C. difficile is associated with significant morbidity, including treatment failure, recurrent disease, increased hospitalizations and longer hospital lengths of stay [2,3,4,5]. The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) both currently maintain practice guidelines for the management of Clostridium difficile infections (CDIs), which outline recommended treatment regimens [6,7].
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