554. Discharge Antibiotic Prescribing at Children’s Hospitals with Established Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs

BACKGROUND: Antibiotic stewardship programs optimize antibiotic use in hospitalized children, but most do not routinely review antibiotic prescriptions at discharge. Up to 30% of discharged children receive additional days of antibiotics, and one single-center study found that 27% of discharge prescriptions were suboptimal. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study to evaluate duration of therapy (DOT) and antibiotic choice for children < 18 years admitted to 4 children’s hospitals from January 1, 2019 - December 31, 2019 and prescribed antibiotics at discharge for uncomplicated community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), skin and soft tissue infection (SSTI), or urinary tract infection (UTI). We excluded children with complex medical conditions, > 1 infection requiring antibiotics, > 7 day hospital stay, or intensive care unit stay. The primary outcomes were the percentage of subjects prescribed optimal (1) total (inpatient plus outpatient) DOT (4-6 days for CAP and SSTI, ≤8 days for UTI), and (2) antibiotic choice (CAP: amoxicillin; SSTI: clindamycin, amoxicillin-clavulanate, cephalexin, or trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP/SMX); UTI: cephalexin, amoxicillin, amoxicillin-clavulanate, TMP/SMX, or nitrofurantoin) based on current national guidelines and available evidence. RESULTS: 2105 encounters were included: 783 CAP, 916 SSTI, and 406 UTI. Median age was 4 years and 49% were female. DOT for each condition are shown in Figure 1 and antibiotic choice in Figure 2. Antibiotic choice was optimal for 66% with CAP, 98% with SSTI, and 88% with UTI. DOT was optimal for 11% with CAP, 4% with SSTI, and 21% with UTI. Both DOT and choice were optimal for 2% with CAP, 4% with SSTI, and 19% with UTI. For all indications, antibiotic choice was optimal for 84% and DOT was optimal for 10%, while only 6% of antibiotic courses included both optimal DOT and antibiotic choice. Total duration of therapy for 2105 children discharged with antibiotics for community-acquired pneumonia, urinary tract infection, and skin and soft tissue infection. [Figure: see text] Discharge antibiotic choices for 2105 children with community-acquired pneumonia, urinary tract infection, and skin and soft tissue infection. [Figure: see text] CONCLUSION: At 4 children’s hospitals with established antimicrobial stewardship programs, 94% of discharge antibiotic courses for CAP, UTI, and SSTI were suboptimal either by choice of antibiotic or duration of therapy. Discharge antibiotic prescribing represents a significant opportunity to improve antibiotic use in children. DISCLOSURES: Jason Newland, MD, AHRQ: Grant/Research Support|Merck: Grant/Research Support|NIH: Grant/Research Support|PEW Charitable Trust: Grant/Research Support|Pfizer: Grant/Research Support.