The Delaware Surgery Center in Dover, Del., will receive an Innovations in Quality Improvement Award for a program to reduce unnecessary use of the potent antibiotics ciprofloxacin and vancomycin in patients who report an allergy to penicillin. The antibiotics are given prior to surgery to prevent infection.
Patients were screened using a questionnaire based on an algorithm published in scientific literature, modified significantly to meet the specific needs of the surgery center, according to the release. Over 15 months, 300 patients with a reported penicillin allergy were screened, and 80 were randomly selected for analysis. Of the 80 patients studied, only 1 percent received ciprofloxacin and 2 percent received vancomycin, a significant reduction in the center’s use of these drugs. The other patients received cephalosporins or other less potent antibiotics. There were no adverse reactions in any of the patients, compared with seven of 31 patients (23 percent) who developed adverse reactions to ciprofloxacin prior to the initiation of the program.
During the study, Delaware Surgery Center saved $2,000 by decreasing use of the more potent and more expensive broad-spectrum antibiotics, according to the report.
The second Innovations in Quality Improvement Award will go to the National College Depression Partnership, which developed a national initiative to identify and treat college students for depression, according to the report.
The awards will be presented Dec. 5-6 in Las Vegas, Nev., at the AAHC Institute’s 9th Annual National Educational Forum for Ambulatory Health Care.
Learn more about the AAAHC Institute.
Learn more about the AAAHC.
