Changes in antimicrobial utilization during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic after implementation of a multispecialty clinical guidance team

OBJECTIVE: Evaluate changes in antimicrobial use during COVID-19 and after implementation of a multispecialty COVID-19 clinical guidance team compared to pre–COVID-19 antimicrobial use. DESIGN: Retrospective observational study. SETTING: Tertiary-care academic medical center. PARTICIPANTS: Internal medicine and medical intensive care unit (MICU) provider teams and hospitalized COVID-19 patients. METHODS: Difference-in-differences analyses of antibiotic days of therapy per 1,000 patient days present (DOT) for internal medicine and MICU teams treating COVID-19 patients versus teams that did not were performed for 3 periods: before COVID-19, initial COVID-19 period, and after implementation of a multispecialty COVID-19 clinical guidance team which included daily, patient-specific antimicrobial stewardship recommendations. Patient characteristics associated with antibiotic DOT were evaluated using multivariable Poisson regression. RESULTS: In the initial COVID-19 period, compared to the pre–COVID-19 period, internal medicine and MICU teams increased weekly antimicrobial use by 145.3 DOT (95% CI, 35.1–255.5) and 204.0 DOT (95% CI, −16.9 to 424.8), respectively, compared to non–COVID-19 teams. In the intervention period, internal medicine and MICU COVID-19 teams both had significant weekly decreases of 362.3 DOT (95% CI, −443.3 to −281.2) and 226.3 DOT (95% CI, −381.2 to –71.3). Of 131 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, 86 (65.6%) received antibiotics; no specific patient factors were significantly associated with an expected change in antibiotic days. CONCLUSIONS: Antimicrobial use initially increased for COVID-19 patient care teams compared to pre–COVID-19 levels but significantly decreased after implementation of a multispecialty clinical guidance team, which may be an effective strategy to reduce unnecessary antimicrobial use.