Interdisciplinary Team Pilot to Reduce Time to Administration of Piperacillin/Tazobactam in the Emergency Department at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center

Madeline M DiVittorio,1 Tracy Fisher,2 Brendan Steadman,2 Brian Cone,2 Zane Elfessi1– 3 1Department of Pharmacy, Jesse Brown Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA; 2Department of Emergency Medicine, Jesse Brown Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA; 3University of Illinois-Ch...

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Main Authors: DiVittorio MM, Fisher T, Steadman B, Cone B, Elfessi Z
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Dove Medical Press 2025-02-01
Series:Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare
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Online Access:https://www.dovepress.com/interdisciplinary-team-pilot-to-reduce-time-to-administration-of-piper-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-JMDH
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author DiVittorio MM
Fisher T
Steadman B
Cone B
Elfessi Z
author_facet DiVittorio MM
Fisher T
Steadman B
Cone B
Elfessi Z
author_sort DiVittorio MM
collection DOAJ
description Madeline M DiVittorio,1 Tracy Fisher,2 Brendan Steadman,2 Brian Cone,2 Zane Elfessi1– 3 1Department of Pharmacy, Jesse Brown Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA; 2Department of Emergency Medicine, Jesse Brown Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA; 3University of Illinois-Chicago College of Pharmacy, Chicago, IL, USACorrespondence: Zane Elfessi, Email [email protected]: Sepsis is a condition of life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to an infection. Adults with suspected sepsis or possible septic shock should receive antimicrobials within 1 hour. Early administration of antibiotics to patients with sepsis has been shown to decrease in-hospital mortality. Factors that affect antibiotic administration time include the antibiotic dispensary location, best practice alerts in electronic medical records, and staff “huddles” to continuously reinforce the importance of antibiotics.Methods: At our Veterans Affairs Medical Center, we moved piperacillin/tazobactam from the central pharmacy to the emergency department automated dispensing cabinet. We implemented an interdisciplinary sepsis team comprised of emergency medicine (EM) nurses, pharmacists, and physicians. This was a retrospective chart review to assess whether our change in practice affected the time to administration of piperacillin/tazobactam in the emergency department. We assessed whether the change in practice had an effect on mortality in our population.Results: Patients were reviewed 6 months pre- and post-implantation of the practice changes. There were 139 veterans in the pre-implementation group and 128 in the post-implementation group. The two groups were similar in age, sex, and African-American race. There was a statistically significant reduction in the average time from EM pharmacist verification to nurse administration when comparing the groups (46.5± 49.8 vs 30.6± 28.7 minutes, p=0.004). There were statistically significant reductions in the time from EM physician recognition to pharmacist order verification (54.37± 50.22 vs 40.52± 31.26 minutes, p=0.009). Eight patients died in the pre-pilot group compared to five in the post-pilot group. The relative risk of mortality was reduced between the two groups by 32%.Conclusion: When piperacillin/tazobactam was stocked in the emergency department and we implemented an interdisciplinary sepsis team, there was a significant reduction in the time to administration in patients with sepsis.Keywords: sepsis, veteran, interdisciplinary, emergency, antibiotic, piperacillin/tazobactam
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publishDate 2025-02-01
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spelling doaj-art-7f2e5f0d4caf49aca07f238d741efefa2025-02-06T16:40:24ZengDove Medical PressJournal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare1178-23902025-02-01Volume 1860360899957Interdisciplinary Team Pilot to Reduce Time to Administration of Piperacillin/Tazobactam in the Emergency Department at a Veterans Affairs Medical CenterDiVittorio MMFisher TSteadman BCone BElfessi ZMadeline M DiVittorio,1 Tracy Fisher,2 Brendan Steadman,2 Brian Cone,2 Zane Elfessi1– 3 1Department of Pharmacy, Jesse Brown Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA; 2Department of Emergency Medicine, Jesse Brown Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA; 3University of Illinois-Chicago College of Pharmacy, Chicago, IL, USACorrespondence: Zane Elfessi, Email [email protected]: Sepsis is a condition of life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to an infection. Adults with suspected sepsis or possible septic shock should receive antimicrobials within 1 hour. Early administration of antibiotics to patients with sepsis has been shown to decrease in-hospital mortality. Factors that affect antibiotic administration time include the antibiotic dispensary location, best practice alerts in electronic medical records, and staff “huddles” to continuously reinforce the importance of antibiotics.Methods: At our Veterans Affairs Medical Center, we moved piperacillin/tazobactam from the central pharmacy to the emergency department automated dispensing cabinet. We implemented an interdisciplinary sepsis team comprised of emergency medicine (EM) nurses, pharmacists, and physicians. This was a retrospective chart review to assess whether our change in practice affected the time to administration of piperacillin/tazobactam in the emergency department. We assessed whether the change in practice had an effect on mortality in our population.Results: Patients were reviewed 6 months pre- and post-implantation of the practice changes. There were 139 veterans in the pre-implementation group and 128 in the post-implementation group. The two groups were similar in age, sex, and African-American race. There was a statistically significant reduction in the average time from EM pharmacist verification to nurse administration when comparing the groups (46.5± 49.8 vs 30.6± 28.7 minutes, p=0.004). There were statistically significant reductions in the time from EM physician recognition to pharmacist order verification (54.37± 50.22 vs 40.52± 31.26 minutes, p=0.009). Eight patients died in the pre-pilot group compared to five in the post-pilot group. The relative risk of mortality was reduced between the two groups by 32%.Conclusion: When piperacillin/tazobactam was stocked in the emergency department and we implemented an interdisciplinary sepsis team, there was a significant reduction in the time to administration in patients with sepsis.Keywords: sepsis, veteran, interdisciplinary, emergency, antibiotic, piperacillin/tazobactamhttps://www.dovepress.com/interdisciplinary-team-pilot-to-reduce-time-to-administration-of-piper-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-JMDHsepsisveteraninterdisciplinaryemergencyantibioticpiperacillin/tazobactam
spellingShingle DiVittorio MM
Fisher T
Steadman B
Cone B
Elfessi Z
Interdisciplinary Team Pilot to Reduce Time to Administration of Piperacillin/Tazobactam in the Emergency Department at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare
sepsis
veteran
interdisciplinary
emergency
antibiotic
piperacillin/tazobactam
title Interdisciplinary Team Pilot to Reduce Time to Administration of Piperacillin/Tazobactam in the Emergency Department at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center
title_full Interdisciplinary Team Pilot to Reduce Time to Administration of Piperacillin/Tazobactam in the Emergency Department at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center
title_fullStr Interdisciplinary Team Pilot to Reduce Time to Administration of Piperacillin/Tazobactam in the Emergency Department at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center
title_full_unstemmed Interdisciplinary Team Pilot to Reduce Time to Administration of Piperacillin/Tazobactam in the Emergency Department at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center
title_short Interdisciplinary Team Pilot to Reduce Time to Administration of Piperacillin/Tazobactam in the Emergency Department at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center
title_sort interdisciplinary team pilot to reduce time to administration of piperacillin tazobactam in the emergency department at a veterans affairs medical center
topic sepsis
veteran
interdisciplinary
emergency
antibiotic
piperacillin/tazobactam
url https://www.dovepress.com/interdisciplinary-team-pilot-to-reduce-time-to-administration-of-piper-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-JMDH
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