Sara Jo Bugeja
Clinical benefits and costs of an outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy service.
Bugeja, Sara Jo; Stewart, Derek; Vosper, Helen
Authors
Derek Stewart
Helen Vosper
Abstract
Background: The enrolment of patients to an outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT) service can be a means of mitigating financial burdens related to the provision of care and optimisation of hospital bed management. Objective: This study aimed to identify the clinical benefit of the Maltese OPAT service and to quantify the costs incurred to run it. Methods: The study period ran for 156 weeks during 1st October 2016 to 1st October 2019. Patient demographics, infection type, referring care team, antimicrobial agent/s used, type of vascular access device (VAD) available and service completion status (defined as provision of care without re-hospitalisation) were recorded. Time allocated for OPAT service delivery and expenses incurred were collected and an activity-based costing exercise was performed. Results: The patient population who benefited from the service was of 117, 15 of whom used the service twice, for a total of 132 episodes. Patients received 149 antimicrobial treatment courses, with ceftriaxone being the most common single agent used (n = 52, 34.9%). Teicoplanin with ertapenem was the most common regimen selected for combination therapy (n = 9, 52.9%). A total of 23 episodes (17.4%) resulted in a readmission, 6 (30%) of which were because of patient deterioration. The mean service running weekly cost was €455.47/$538.68 and a total of 3287 days of hospital stay were avoided. This effectively illustrates that the OPAT service optimised hospital bed availability without compromising care delivery. Conclusion: The national OPAT service proved to be a safe and effective alternative for patient management to promote patient-centred care without hospitalisation.
Citation
BUGEJA, S.J., STEWART, D. and VOSPER, H. 2021. Clinical benefits and costs of an outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy service. Research in social and administrative pharmacy [online], 17(10), pages 1758-1763. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sapharm.2021.01.009
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | Jan 18, 2021 |
Online Publication Date | Jan 24, 2021 |
Publication Date | Oct 31, 2021 |
Deposit Date | Feb 8, 2021 |
Publicly Available Date | Jan 25, 2022 |
Journal | Research in social and administrative pharmacy |
Print ISSN | 1551-7411 |
Electronic ISSN | 1934-8150 |
Publisher | Elsevier |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 17 |
Issue | 10 |
Pages | 1758-1763 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sapharm.2021.01.009 |
Keywords | Outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy; Activity-based costing; Service evaluation; Patient-centred care; Malta |
Public URL | https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1187311 |
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https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
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