Outpatient Quality Research Articles

Factors Associated With Unplanned Acute Care Services for Patients With Newly Diagnosed Hematologic Malignancies.

This study evaluated risk factors predicting unplanned 30-day acute service utilization among adults subsequent to hospitalization for a new diagnosis of leukemia, lymphoma, or myeloma. This study explored the prevalence of medical complications (aligned with OP-35 measure specifications from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS] Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting Program) and the potential impact of psychosocial factors on unplanned acute care utilization. This study included 933 unique patients admitted to three acute care inpatient facilities within a nonprofit community-based health care system in southern California from 2012 to 2017. Integrated comprehensive data elements from electronic medical records and facility oncology registries were leveraged for univariate statistics, predictive models constructed using multivariable logistic regression, and further exploratory data mining, with predictive accuracy of the models measured with c-statistics. The mean age of study participants was 65 years, and 55.1% were male. Specific diagnoses were lymphoma (48.7%), leukemia (35.2%), myeloma (14.0%), and mixed types (2.1%). Approximately one fifth of patients received unplanned acute care services within 30 days postdischarge, and over half of these patients presented with one or more symptoms associated with the CMS medical complication measure. The predictive models, with c-statistics ranging from 0.7 and above for each type of hematologic malignancy, indicated good predictive qualities with the impact of psychosocial functioning on the use of acute care services (P values < .05), including lack of consult for social work during initial admission (lymphoma or myeloma), history of counseling or use of psychotropic medications (lymphoma), and past substance use (myeloma). This study provides insights into patient-related factors that may inform a proactive approach to improve health outcomes, such as enhanced care transition, monitoring, and support interventions.

The Impact of Demographics and Medicare Payments on Quality of External Beam Radiotherapy for Bone Metastases in US Hospitals

External Beam Radiotherapy (EBRT) has a well-established role in palliation of metastatic bone disease, yet the adherence to evidence based palliative EBRT doses and fractionation schemes is not universal across United States outpatient treatment facilities. We aimed to explore potential disparities in palliative EBRT quality in relation to Medicare visit payments and population demographics.Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) EBRT for Bone Metastases process measure score for 2018 included in the Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting Program (Hospital OQR) was available for a total of 824 facilities across the US. Radiation Oncology Office Visit Costs per zip code for new and established patients were obtained from CMS. Demographics (percentage of total population representing males, females, 5 years or younger, under 18 years, 65 or older, white, black or African American, Latino) were obtained from US census. Linear regression analysis was carried out with score representing the dependent variable.The median score was 95% (range 5-100%), average 88.86%. In the final multivariate model, the score was significantly positively associated with the percentage of white population (P = 0.04) and negatively associated with the percentage of population under 18 (P = 0.03), and there was a trend toward association with the mode of Medicare pricing for a new patient visit (P = 0.06). Of note, the percentage of population under 18 was positively correlated with percentage of Latino population (P = 3.155e-09) but not black population (P = 0.9.) There was no association with gender, or with the percentage of those patients who were very young (under 5) or over the age of 65 years.The quality of palliative EBRT in US outpatient facilities is associated with demographic diversity of a given area, with predominantly non-diverse neighborhoods generally receiving higher quality EBRT-based palliative care. Additionally, it appears to be affected by Medicare payments. This data suggests that disparities in healthcare quality are directly mediated by race and partially by geography.

The Butterfly Effect: How an Outpatient Quality Improvement Project Affected Prescribing Habits on an Inpatient Service

Lorentzen, William BS; Perez, Natalie BA; Galet, Colette PhD; Allan, Lauren DO, FACS Author Information

Analysis on the Influence of Pre-prescription Review and Intervention on Outpatient Prescription Quality

Analysis on the Influence of Pre-prescription Review and Intervention on Outpatient Prescription Quality

Outpatient Prescription Practices in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation (From the NCDR PINNACLE Registry)

This study sought to evaluate inappropriate prescribing practices in an atrial fibrillation (AF) population, as outlined by the 2016 ACC/AHA Clinical Performance and Quality Measures for Adults with Atrial Fibrillation or Atrial Flutter document. The 2016 AF quality measures document specified medications to avoid in certain AF populations, including aspirin and anticoagulant combination therapy in patients without cardiovascular disease, and non-dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers in patients with reduced ejection fraction. Using data from the NCDR PINNACLE registry, a national outpatient cardiology practice registry, we assessed rates of inappropriate prescription of two types of medications among AF outpatients from 5/1/2008-5/1/2016. Overall rates of inappropriate prescription and variation by practice were calculated. Patient and practice factors associated with inappropriate prescription were assessed in adjusted analyses. A total of 107,759 of 658,250 (16.4%) patients without cardiovascular disease were inappropriately prescribed an antiplatelet and anticoagulant together, and 5,731 of 150,079 (3.8%) patients with reduced ejection fraction were inappropriately prescribed a non-dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker. Overall, 14.8% of AF patients were prescribed medications that were not recommended. Both patient and practice factors were associated with inappropriate prescribing, and the adjusted practice-level median odds ratio for inappropriate prescription was 1.70 (95% CI: 1.61-1.82), indicating a 70% likelihood that 2 random practices would treat identical AF patients differently. In a large registry of AF patients treated in cardiology practices, overall rates of inappropriate prescription practices, as defined by the 2016 AF quality measures, were relatively low, but significant practice variation was present.

Outpatient bilateral ethmoidectomy in a private non-profit structure: Retrospective study of 204 patients

ObjectivesThe main objective of this study was to determine the rate of outpatient management in a population of patients undergoing bilateral ethmoidectomy. The secondary objectives were to evaluate the quality of outpatient management (rate of unscheduled overnight admission, readmission rate, complications) and to compare inpatient and outpatient groups to determine which elements of the phenotype and care pathway favored outpatient management. Materials and methodsA single-center observational study included 204 patients operated on for bilateral ethmoidectomy. Study variables comprised: type of care pathway (outpatient/inpatient), outpatient quality indicators (unscheduled admission, readmission, complications), care pathway, and population characteristics. ResultsOne hundred and twenty (58.8%) outpatients were operated on. No deaths occurred. The unscheduled admission rate was 7.5%, and the readmission rate 4.1%; at the P<0.005 threshold, there were no significant differences between in- and out-patient groups. Outpatients had earlier surgery (P<0.005), and nasal packing rates and pain on VAS were lower (P<0.005). ConclusionEthmoidectomy could be carried out as an outpatient procedure in 58.8% of cases, with acceptable quality of care. Selection of patients and the organization of a dedicated care pathway seem to be elements favoring this management.

Development of a video-observation method for examining doctors\u2019 clinical and interpersonal skills in a hospital outpatient clinic in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria

BackgroundImproving the quality of primary healthcare provision is a key goal in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, to develop effective quality improvement interventions, we first need to be able to accurately measure the quality of care. The methods most commonly used to measure the technical quality of care all have some key limitations in LMICs settings. Video-observation is appealing but has not yet been used in this context. We examine preliminary feasibility and acceptability of video-observation for assessing physician quality in a hospital outpatients’ department in Nigeria. We also develop measurement procedures and examine measurement characteristics.Methods Cross-sectional study at a large tertiary care hospital in Ibadan, Nigeria. Consecutive physician-patient consultations with adults and children under five seeking outpatient care were video-recorded. We also conducted brief interviews with participating physicians to gain feedback on our approach. Video-recordings were double-coded by two medically trained researchers, independent of the study team and each other, using an explicit checklist of key processes of care that we developed, from which we derived a process quality score. We also elicited a global quality rating from reviewers.ResultsWe analysed 142 physician-patient consultations. The median process score given by both coders was 100 %. The modal overall rating category was ‘above standard’ (or 4 on a scale of 1–5). Coders agreed on which rating to assign only 44 % of the time (weighted Cohen’s kappa = 0.26). We found in three-level hierarchical modelling that the majority of variance in process scores was explained by coder disagreement. A very high correlation of 0.90 was found between the global quality rating and process quality score across all encounters. Participating physicians liked our approach, despite initial reservations about being observed.ConclusionsVideo-observation is feasible and acceptable in this setting, and the quality of consultations was high. However, we found that rater agreement is low but comparable to other modalities that involve expert clinician judgements about quality of care including in-person direct observation and case note review. We suggest ways to improve scoring consistency including careful rater selection and improved design of the measurement procedure for the process score.

Transition of dose-adjusted EPOCH therapy into the outpatient healthcare setting, quality and cost considerations under an alternate payment model.

e18655 Background: Dose-adjusted etoposide, prednisone, vincristine, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin DA-(EPOCH)-containing regimens are frequently utilized in lymphoma, however, outpatient EPOCH or modified inpatient/outpatient EPOCH has not been described extensively. We transitioned inpatient EPOCH to the outpatient setting and modified EPOCH to be given in the inpatient setting with rituximab outpatient to improve quality of care and access to patient assistance programs. Methods: A single-center, institutional review board-approved retrospective study was conducted for adults receiving EPOCH-based regimens. Data were collected by chart review for each patient between January 2013 and September 2020. The primary outcomes were to determine the incidence of chemotherapy delays due to disease-related reasons as febrile neutropenia (FN), adverse events or abnormal labs and the incidence of FN between patients receiving inpatient (IP), outpatient (OP), or combination inpatient/outpatient DA-EPOCH +/- R (hybrid). Secondary cost analysis including hospital stay cost, chemotherapy and laboratory monitoring costs was performed for the three settings. Results: A total of 43 patients received 175 cycles of an EPOCH regimen (18 [10.3%] IP), 90 [51.4%] OP, and 67 [38.3%] hybrid). The mean maximum dose level achieved with DA-EPOCH+/-R was dose level 2 with the average number of cycles at 4.1 cycles/patient. A total of 15 cycles were delayed due to disease related reasons: 1 (6%) in IP, 12 (18%) in hybrid (P = 0.196, when compared with IP) and 2 (2%) in OP (P = 0.432 when compared with IP). A total of 166 cycles received granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF); 16 cycles (9.6%) administered IP with a FN incidence of two (12.5%), 62 cycles (37.4%) administered in the hybrid setting with a FN incidence of seven (11.3%) (P = 0.893 when compared with IP) and 88 cycles (53%) administered OP with a FN incidence of ten (11.3%) (P = 0.896 when compared with IP). The incidence of FN was 9.3% and 12.7% in patients received pegfilgrastim same day versus next day, respectively, P = 0.558. The incidence of FN in patients received reference pegfilgrastim was 9.5% vs 7.7% for patients received pegfilgrastim-cbqv in OP setting (P = 1.00). Transitioning EPOCH to a hybrid IP/OP or OP setting yielded a total cost savings to the health-system of $3,523,174 with 607 hospital bed days saved. Conclusions: EPOCH-containing regimens can be safely transitioned into the outpatient setting or utilized as a hybrid of EPCOH and outpatient Rituximab after chemotherapy side effects can be monitored and outcomes optimized, to better adapt treatment strategies for individualized patient therapies. As new healthcare payment models are developed, outpatient treatments allow for adaptive financial options both for the payor and the patient.

Evaluation of emergency department (ED) visits by oncology patients: A running comparison to admissions and ED visits under the CMS OP-35 ruling.

e18683 Background: The incidence of emergency department (ED) visits by oncology patients has grown in recent years. Some visits are medically unnecessary or could be prevented with improved prophylactic measures. Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services (CMS) implemented the Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting (OQR) Program, to which hospitals must report data on quality measures of care furnished in the outpatient setting. One of the proposed measures, OP-35, evaluates admissions and ED visits by patients receiving outpatient chemotherapy, assessing for ten potentially preventable visits. These ten visit reasons included are: anemia, nausea, vomiting, dehydration, neutropenia, diarrhea, pain, pneumonia, fever, and sepsis. This study evaluated the incidence and reasons for ED visits by patients receiving outpatient chemotherapy, as well as outcomes following these visits in order to assess appropriate prophylactic treatment related to outpatient chemotherapy at our institution. Methods: This single-center, retrospective chart review was conducted at The University of Arizona Cancer Center. We collected data using an electronic medical record and included oncology patients with active cancer who had ED visits from January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2018. Data points included baseline demographics; malignancy; ED visit reason; clinic visit history; past ED visits; treatment and supportive care data; and outcome of the ED visit. Results: Study authors included 205 of the 1,659 screened encounters. Approximately 70% of the encounters involved patients with solid tumors and 30% with hematologic malignancies. Nearly 50% of hematologic malignancy patients presented to the ED for potentially preventable reasons, while 32.8% of solid tumor patients had potentially preventable visits. The most common preventable ED visit reasons in both groups were pain, fever, nausea, vomiting, and dehydration. In our analysis, over 90% of patients presenting for neutropenia and fever had received appropriate growth factor prophylaxis when indicated based on their chemotherapy regimen. Of the patients presenting for nausea or vomiting, it was determined 95.3% had received appropriate antiemetic prophylaxis. Conclusions: This study showed that the incidence of potentially preventable visits was numerically higher in the hematologic cancer group compared with the solid tumor group. In addition, this study showed that a number of patients who were admitted to the ED with nausea/vomiting or neutropenia/fever received appropriate guideline-recommended prophylactic or supportive care therapy, regardless of the OP-35 proposed CMS core measure determination that these visit reasons should be considered preventable. These findings highlight the need for CMS to further review OP-35 to include information addressing the use of appropriate supportive care in the future.

The impact of demographics and Medicare payments on quality of external beam radiotherapy for bone metastases in U.S. hospitals.

e18504 Background: External Beam Radiotherapy (EBRT) has a well-established role in palliation of metastatic bone disease, yet the adherence to evidence based palliative EBRT doses and fractionation schemes is not universal across United States outpatient treatment facilities. We aimed to explore potential disparities in palliative EBRT quality in relation to Medicare visit payments and population demographics. Methods: Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services (CMS) EBRT for Bone Metastases process measure score for 2018 included in the Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting Program (Hospital OQR) was available for a total of 824 facilities across the US. The score represents the percentage of evaluated patients that received an acceptable palliative dose/fractionation regimen. Radiation Oncology Office Visit Costs per zip code for new and established patients were obtained from CMS. Demographics (percentage of total population representing males, females, 5 years or younger, under 18 years, 65 or older, white, black or African American, Latino) were obtained from US census. Linear regression analysis was carried out with score representing the dependent variable. Results: The median score was 95% (range 5-100%), average 88.86%. In the final multivariate model, the score was significantly positively associated with the percentage of white population (p = 0.04) and negatively associated with the percentage of population under 18 (p = 0.03), and there was a trend toward association with the mode of Medicare pricing for a new patient visit (p = 0.06). Of note, the percentage of population under 18 was positively correlated with percentage of Latino population (p = 3.155e-09) but not black population (p = 0.9.) There was no association with gender, or with the percentage of those patients who were very young (under 5) or over the age of 65 years. Conclusions: The quality of palliative EBRT in US outpatient facilities is associated with demographic diversity of a given area, with predominantly nondiverse neighborhoods generally receiving higher quality EBRT-based palliative care. Additionally, it appears to be negatively affected by Medicare payments. This data suggests that disparities in healthcare quality are directly mediated by race and partially by geography.

Natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) model for predicting CMS OP-35 categories among patients receiving chemotherapy.

e13591 Background: The Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting Program is a pay-for-quality data reporting program implemented by the Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services (CMS). Hospitals collect data on various measures of the quality of care provided in outpatient settings for the CMS. One such measure is OP-35, where data about patients who received chemotherapy in outpatient settings are collected. Such quality measures help hospitals assess their performance and allow patients to compare the quality of care among different hospitals in that region. Currently, the process to label data for OP-35 categories is manual. This study aims to develop a model using NLP and ML to predict the ten OP-35 complication categories and automate the process. Methods: Data from 1000 adult cancer patients who received chemotherapy at a comprehensive cancer center in the South Florida region between Sept and Oct 2019 were extracted to train the ML models. Text from the Chief Complaint field was manually labeled into ten binary categories: anemia, nausea, dehydration, neutropenia, diarrhea, emesis, pneumonia, fever, sepsis, and pain. The data were divided into a training set (80%) and a test set (20%). After initial pre-processing of the text, term frequency–inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) feature extraction method with a vocabulary size of 10,000 was applied. Various models (stochastic gradient descent, support vector classification [SVC], and binary relevance, etc.) were trained to predict multiple labels. These models were evaluated using Jaccard score, accuracy, F1 score, and Hamming loss. Additionally, two deep learning approaches: a single dense output layer and multiple dense output layer models, were also used for comparison. Python version 3.8 was utilized for the analysis. Results: The best performing model was SVC, with a Jaccard score of 85.13 and 90% accuracy. In the first deep learning approach, a single dense output layer was used with multiple neurons where each neuron represented only one label. In the second approach, a separate dense layer for each label was created with one neuron. The model with a single output layer produced an accuracy score of 32%, and the model with multiple output layer had an accuracy score of 31%. Both deep learning models with single and multiple output layers did not perform well compared to SVC. Conclusions: Our study shows an early indication regarding the feasibility of modern ML techniques in predicting multiple label categories or outcomes. As a potential clinical decision support system, this model could replace manual data entry, minimize human error, and decrease resources for data collection. In the next stage, healthcare providers will validate this model by manually checking the predicted labels. In the final stage, model will be deployed in real-time to predict OP-35 categories automatically.

Partnership Forum: The Role of Research in the Transformation of Veterans Affairs Community Care.

Partnership Forum: The Role of Research in the Transformation of Veterans Affairs Community Care.

165 Sex differences in the relationship between self-reported sleep quality and frailty in South Florida older adult outpatients

Abstract Introduction Frailty, a multidimensional construct of decreased reserve is an important predictor of functional independence and quality of life in older adults. There is a growing body of evidence highlighting reduced sleep efficiency and sleep duration predicts frailty in older adults. However, the sex differences in these relationships have been understudied. Methods 253 participants (163) ranging in age from 50-92 years (mean= 67.59 years, S.D.= 9.22 years), underwent frailty assessment and completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). Statistical moderation was assessed using nonparametric bootstrapping. All models statistically controlled for age, education and depression status. Results Higher scores on the PSQI predicted higher levels of fatigue (β=1.87, 95% CI= 0.48-3.27) and higher grip strength with the left hand (β= 0.81, 95% CI= 0.85-1.53). These relationships were significantly moderated by sex (β=-0.77, p=0.05 &amp; β=-0.52, p=0.01). Specifically, high scores on the PSQI predicted more fatigue stronger grip strength in men (β=1.11, 95% CI=0.41-1.81) and weaker grip strength in women (β=-0.25, 95% CI=-0.51--0.02). There was no association between scores on the ESS and any of the frailty measures. Conclusion The relationships between PSQI scores and measures of fatigue and grip strength were statistically moderated by sex. These differences are not explained by sex differences in overall sleep quality or baseline frailty. This is consistent with the literature emphasizing sex differences in the effects of risk/lifestyle factors. It is possible that the relationship between sleep quality and frailty is altered by additional hormonal factors and warrant further investigation. Support (if any) This research was supported by the Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Research Foundation

Analysis of patient factors associated with hospital visits for allergic rhinitis in Japanese adult patients: A cross-sectional study

ObjectiveAllergic rhinitis (AR) is one of the most common diseases in Japan. However, several AR patients do not seek optimal treatments at clinics/hospitals. This may affect the patient's quality of life and labor productivity. In this study, we assessed the characteristics of the outpatients’ AR and factors associated with their hospital visit, using the dataset obtained from a nation-wide survey in Japan. MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, we used data from the nation-wide 2013 and 2016 Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions (CSLC) in Japan. We analyzed the data of AR outpatients through logistic regression, using the outcome as the dependent variable, and age groups, sex, household size, educational status, smoking history, alcohol use, household expenditure, psychological distress, quality of sleep, asthma and atopic dermatitis outpatients as explanatory variables. ResultsAmong the data of 317,984 outpatients aged between 20 and 79 years in 2016 CSLC survey, the proportion of AR outpatients was significantly less among current smokers (odds ratio (OR); 0.47, 95% confidence interval (CI); 0.43–0.51, P < 0.001) and those with large household sizes (OR; 0.80, 95% CI; 0.72–0.89, P < 0.001). Conversely, the proportion of AR outpatients was significantly more among subjects with a past smoking habit (OR; 1.19, 95% CI; 1.08–1.31, P < 0.001), insufficient sleep (OR; 2.93, 95% CI; 2.52–3.42, P < 0.001), psychological distress (OR; 1.71, 95% CI; 1.62–1.80, P < 0.001), high household expenditures (OR; 1.68, 95% CI; 1.56–1.80, P < 0.001), and asthma and atopic dermatitis outpatients (OR; 8.97, 95% CI; 8.13–9.89 P < 0.001 for asthma and OR; 7.61, 95% CI; 6.76–8.58 P < 0.001 for atopic dermatitis). We observed the same trend using the dataset of 2013 CLSC survey. ConclusionThis study revealed that smoking habit, psychological distress, insufficient sleep, high household expenditures and outpatients with other allergic diseases are the factors associated with AR outpatient visit.

Addressing Antibiotic Overuse in the Outpatient Setting: Lessons From Behavioral Economics

Addressing Antibiotic Overuse in the Outpatient Setting: Lessons From Behavioral Economics

Big data analysis on medical services in coronary heart disease for outpatient care quality management and assessment of the risk of the adverse outcomes

Big data analysis on medical services in coronary heart disease for outpatient care quality management and assessment of the risk of the adverse outcomes

The quality of patient care in oncology departments in Karachi, Pakistan: patients' perceptions

PurposeThis study aims to assess the quality of care among adult oncology patients in tertiary care hospitals in Karachi by using an international standard of quality of care and to identify domains where improvement is needed.Design/methodology/approachThis is a cross-sectional study carried out at two tertiary care hospitals of Karachi, Pakistan, belonging to private and public sector, respectively, between February and April 2018. Face-to-face interviews were conducted using a modified questionnaire having five-point Likert scale questions regarding satisfaction of patients with doctors, nursing staff, information provided and the hospital standards. SPSS 20 was used for statistical analysis, and the results were expressed using mean, frequencies, percentages and p-values.FindingsThe authors approached 415 patients, out of which 389 patients agreed to participate in the study. For both hospitals, the lowest mean scores were for sections pertaining to satisfaction with psychosocial support and information provided. The mean satisfaction score of patients from the private hospital were found to be significantly higher as compared to patients from the public hospital for all domains of patient care (p-value < 0.01 using t-test for two independent samples). The data showed an increasing trend of “satisfied” responses as the household income increased.Research limitations/implicationsA comparative study should be conducted with the aim of pinpointing the differences in areas in which there is a significant difference in positive satisfaction levels between private and public sectors. Similar research could also be expanded adding other variables that affect quality of care such as doctor's approach to their patients, time given during each consultation and patient's understanding of doctor's knowledge. Further studies can be done to bridge the gaps between what a doctor views as standard care and what the patient knows will help them receive a more holistic approach to care.Practical implicationsAssessing the quality of care helps determine gaps in care and allocating health resources accordingly. In clinical practice, emphasis needs to be given on increased duration and improved quality of patient counselling to improve the low satisfaction levels of patients regarding the psychosocial support. Addressing patients' concerns should be made part of clinical teaching from an undergraduate level. As far as patient access to doctors of the specific speciality is concerned, hospital managements should adopt systems to ensure continuum of care and come up with mechanisms to bridge the discrepancy between a patient's needs and doctor availability.Social implicationsAfter being identified as a major deficiency, training doctors in the sensitivities of the population and demographics, especially with respect to socio-economic statuses, can aid in enhancing patient satisfaction to the treatment. Implementation of patient-centred care leads to greater satisfaction with care, which, in turn, increases a patient's self efficacy in managing important aspects of their care and improves health care-related quality of life.Originality/valueCancer patients have long-term exposure to the hospital environment. A patient's satisfaction with the quality of care is an important determinant in patient compliance to the treatment protocol and required hospital visits. There is a dearth of research on the outpatient quality of care in the oncology departments in Karachi. This study provides an overview of the quality of care available to cancer patients in Karachi both in public and private sectors. The results of our study identify the gaps in the quality of care being provided to the patients in a developing country like Pakistan, which can be used to improve the quality of care, leading to better patient outcomes.

Intermittent Education and Audit and Feedback Reduce Inappropriate Prescribing of Oral Third-Generation Cephalosporins for Pediatric Upper Respiratory Tract Infections

In June 2017, leaders within a pediatric ambulatory care network in Houston approached the antimicrobial stewardship team at Texas Children's Hospital with concerns for high oral third-generation cephalosporin (oTGC) use in their clinics. An outpatient quality improvement (QI) team was formed. The specific aim was to reduce inappropriate oTGC prescribing at one clinic ("Clinic A") by 15% in one year. Following a benchmark analysis of oTGC use at Clinic A, Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles were designed and conducted over one year: one educational session, three individual audit and feedback sessions, and one group feedback session. The primary outcome was the percentage of oTGCs not aligning with American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) guidelines for bacterial upper respiratory tract infections. Monthly oTGC prescribing at Clinic A was also compared to four control clinics. In June 2017, 72% (231/322) of oTGCs prescriptions at Clinic A did not align with AAP guidelines. The most common diagnosis was primary/nonrecurrent acute otitis media. Following interventions, the mean percentage inappropriate oTGCs decreased from 72% to 45% (absolute reduction 27%, p < 0.001), which was sustained the year following the last PDSA cycle (absolute reduction 26%, p < 0.001). Total monthly oTGC prescribing at Clinic A decreased over time, but not in four control clinics. Provider active participation in stewardship activities decreased over time. Intermittent education and audit and feedback were associated with reduced oTGC misuse at Clinic A but not at four control clinics. Improvements were maintained despite decreased participation in stewardship activities, suggesting that perceptions of ongoing antibiotic audits can help sustain prescribing improvements.

A clinical study on quality use of antimicrobials and self-medication, medication adherence of antimicrobials in community and hospital settings

Background: Antimicrobial resistance is a global health concern. Globally, between 20 to 50% of antimicrobial consumption is inappropriate, causing significant impact on the quality of care, cost of therapy and incidence of adverse drug reactions and posing a huge risk of antimicrobial resistance. Aim and objectives: Research study aims to assess extent of quality use of antimicrobials among inpatients & outpatients by using inpatient quality indicators, outpatient quality indicators, assessing of self-medication of antimicrobials in community and general public, medication adherence to antimicrobial therapy in outpatients. Methods and materials: Prospective, interventional study. Inpatient and Outpatient quality indicator were used to assess Quality use of antimicrobials. Document review of Prescriptions, Review of patient records, Overview of drug consumption in hospitals and distribution, Semi-structured interviews, Focus group discussions used for data collection. Results: Inpatients: Empirical systemic antibiotic therapy prescribed according to the local guideline has improved from 58.39% to 7.95% as a result of intervention (Imposing of physicians and clinical pharmacist to strictly adhere to local guidelines which are prepared and made available). Practice of ordering at least 2 sets of blood cultures before starting systemic antibiotic therapy also improved from 33.18% to 48.96%, which profoundly impacted the appropriate antimicrobial selection. Empirical antibiotics should be changed to pathogen-directed therapy after culture results become available was also improved from 41.38% to 54.89% after intervention of using of antibiotic usage policy. Outpatients: Antibiotic prescribing in viral infections or (most) self-limiting bacterial infections was made to limit from 43.27% to 38.21% by intervention of prescription auditing, medication review by clinical pharmacist. Prescribed antibiotics should be chosen from an essential list/formulary also improved from 67.12% to 79.14% due to the intervention of designing and dissemination of Essential antimicrobial list and Hospital formulary for individual health care facilities. Conclusion: Research study concludes that, in inpatients, outpatient's majority of antimicrobials are being used Non adherently to quality use indicators so there is a huge need of Promotion of rational use of antimicrobials by raising awareness on antimicrobial resistance and join hands of all health care professionals for combating antibiotic resistance with local solutions to tackle global challenge.

Depression and Sleep Quality in Outpatients attending Penjaringan Primary Health Care, North Jakarta: A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Depression is the most common mental disorder. Depression of outpatients in primary health care is frequently unrecognized. It might affect sleep quality, which is associated with worse quality of life, poor medication adherence, higher morbidity, and mortality. The study aimed to determine the association between depression and sleep quality of outpatients in Penjaringan Primary Health Care, Jakarta. Method: This research was observational analytic using a cross-sectional approach involving 434 outpatients in Penjaringan Primary Health Care, Jakarta. The study was conducted from August until September 2019. Instruments used in this research were the demographic questionnaire, the Zung Self-Rating Depression (SDS) questionnaire, and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaire. Data analytics were bivariate. Results: There were 19.1% of respondents had depression, including 12.2% mild depression, 5.8% moderate depression, and 1.2% severe depression. There were 53.5% of respondents had poor sleep quality. There was a significant relationship (p&lt;0.001, OR=7.814) between depression and sleep quality in outpatients. The results also showed that depression scores were moderately correlated with sleep disturbances (r=0.434). Conclusion: This study showed a high prevalence of depression and poor sleep quality among outpatients. Depression was associated with a 7.8 times higher risk of having poor sleep quality and also correlated with the components of sleep quality especially sleep disturbance.&#x0D;