1130. Impact of a New Pediatric Antibiotic Stewardship Program on Ceftriaxone Use at an Academic Medical Center

Abstract Background Hoop’s Family Children’s Hospital is a pediatric hospital with 72 beds, nested within Cabell Huntington Hospital. There is an established adult antibiotic stewardship program (ASP), however, since 2014 there has not been a pediatric infectious disease (ID) specialist and no pediatric ASP. With the recent hire of a pediatric ID specialist in Oct 2019 and the formation of a targeted pediatric ASP, we tracked the use of ceftriaxone (CRO) in our facility. Methods Starting January 2020, education was provided to pediatric providers in regards to appropriate CRO dosing and clinical indications via email communication. The main goals were to limit 100mg/kg/day dosing to severe infections and reduce CRO use in community-acquired pneumonia. This was sustained through intermittent prospective audits and feedback. A retrospective chart review was done from 2019-2021 for the months of January, April and December of each year. Patients ≤18 years of age who received CRO were included. Dosing, interval frequency, indication, and treatment duration were reviewed. Patients who received a single dose of CRO were excluded. Results From Jan 2019 – April 2021, 391 patient charts were reviewed (189 in the pre-intervention period and 202 in the post intervention period). There were no significant differences in age, race/ethnicity and gender in the two study groups. In the pre-intervention period, 86% of patients were prescribed CRO at severe infection dosing vs 33% in the post intervention period (p< 0.0001) (Figure 1). When dosing was paired with indication, only 20% of patients in the pre intervention period had the appropriate dosing per clinical indication compared to 83% in the post intervention period (p< 0.0001) (Figure 2). We also saw that in the pre-intervention period the most common indication for CRO was pneumonia (66%), which decreased to 57% in 2020 and to 35% in 2021 (p< 0.0001) (Figure 3). Figure 1 describes the percentage of patients receiving ceftriaxone at severe infection dosing. This changed from an average of 86% in the pre-intervention period to 33% in the post-intervention period. Figure 2 describes the percentage of patients receiving ceftriaxone at the appropriate dosing dependent on the clinical indication provided. This changed from 20% in the pre-intervention period to closer to 90% in the post-intervention period. Conclusion Pediatric specific ASP efforts and expertise proved to be crucial in appropriate CRO use in our institution. With a feasible education strategy and targeted prospective audit and feedback, there has been a sustained impact in inappropriate CRO use. This underscores the importance of targeted pediatric ASP efforts in pediatric hospitals within larger adult hospitals. Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures