What is the more effective antibiotic stewardship intervention: Preprescription authorization or postprescription review with feedback?

Background. The optimal approach to conducting antibiotic stewardship interventions has not been defined. We compared days of antibiotic therapy (DOT) using preprescription authorization (PPA) vs postprescription review with feedback (PPRF) strategies. Methods. A quasi-experimental, crossover trial comparing PPA and PPRF for adult inpatients prescribed any antibiotic was conducted. For the first 4 months, 2 medicine teams were assigned to the PPA arm and the other 2 teams to the PPRF arm. The teams were then assigned to the alternate arm for an additional 4 months. Appropriateness of antibiotic use was adjudicated by at least 2 infectious diseases-trained clinicians and according to institutional guidelines. Results. There were 2686 and 2693 patients admitted to the PPA and PPRF groups, with 29% and 27% of patients prescribed antibiotics, respectively. Initially, antibiotic DOTs remained relatively unchanged in the PPA arm. When changed to the PPRF arm, antibiotic use decreased (-2.45 DOT per 1000 patient-days [PD]). In the initial PPRF arm, antibiotic use decreased (slope of -5.73 DOT per 1000 PD) but remained constant when changed to the PPA arm. Median patient DOTs in the PPA and PPRF arms were 8 and 6 DOT per 1000 PD, respectively (P = .03). Antibiotic therapy was guideline-noncompliant in 34% and 41% of patients on days 1 and 3 in the PPA group (P < .01) and in 57% and 36% of patients on days 1 and 3 in the PPRF group (P = .03). Conclusions. PPRF may have more of an impact on decreasing antibiotic DOTs compared with PPA. This information may be useful for institutions without sufficient resources to incorporate both stewardship approaches.