Outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT) from an emergency model applied during the COVID-19 pandemic to standard of care: Preliminary lessons from our experience

OBJECTIVES: We wish to report on our experience of OPAT during the first two years of the COVID19 outbreak. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We recorded data on all patients treated in the OPAT regimen in 2020 and 2021 and compared overall trends, use of carbapenems and saved days of hospitalization. RESULTS: The OPAT model enabled us to ensure the administration of first choice antibiotic therapy to 239 patients with an increase of 21.3% from 2020 to 2021 (108 vs 131). Applying this model, we also recorded a reduction in the use of carbapenems from 33% in 2020 to 26% in 2021 and a total of 3041 recovery days saved in 2021.The clinical cure rate reached 94%. Few adverse events occurred (35/239; 14.6%), and they did not require hospitalization. CONCLUSION: OPAT is a safe, efficacious, and cost-effective model that functioned effectively during the COVID-19 crisis and could become the standard of care for the treatment of selected patients.