Appl Clin Inform 2018; 09(01): 037-045
DOI: 10.1055/s-0037-1615787
Research Article
Schattauer GmbH Stuttgart

Design and Implementation of a Visual Analytics Electronic Antibiogram within an Electronic Health Record System at a Tertiary Pediatric Hospital

Allan F. Simpao
,
Luis M. Ahumada
,
Beatriz Larru Martinez
,
Ana M. Cardenas
,
Talene A. Metjian
,
Kaede V. Sullivan
,
Jorge A. Gálvez
,
Bimal R. Desai
,
Mohamed A. Rehman
,
Jeffrey S. Gerber
Weitere Informationen

Publikationsverlauf

05. August 2017

19. November 2017

Publikationsdatum:
17. Januar 2018 (online)

Abstract

Background Hospitals use antibiograms to guide optimal empiric antibiotic therapy, reduce inappropriate antibiotic usage, and identify areas requiring intervention by antimicrobial stewardship programs. Creating a hospital antibiogram is a time-consuming manual process that is typically performed annually.

Objective We aimed to apply visual analytics software to electronic health record (EHR) data to build an automated, electronic antibiogram (“e-antibiogram”) that adheres to national guidelines and contains filters for patient characteristics, thereby providing access to detailed, clinically relevant, and up-to-date antibiotic susceptibility data.

Methods We used visual analytics software to develop a secure, EHR-linked, condition- and patient-specific e-antibiogram that supplies susceptibility maps for organisms and antibiotics in a comprehensive report that is updated on a monthly basis. Antimicrobial susceptibility data were grouped into nine clinical scenarios according to the specimen source, hospital unit, and infection type. We implemented the e-antibiogram within the EHR system at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, a tertiary pediatric hospital and analyzed e-antibiogram access sessions from March 2016 to March 2017.

Results The e-antibiogram was implemented in the EHR with over 6,000 inpatient, 4,500 outpatient, and 3,900 emergency department isolates. The e-antibiogram provides access to rolling 12-month pathogen and susceptibility data that is updated on a monthly basis. E-antibiogram access sessions increased from an average of 261 sessions per month during the first 3 months of the study to 345 sessions per month during the final 3 months.

Conclusion An e-antibiogram that was built and is updated using EHR data and adheres to national guidelines is a feasible replacement for an annual, static, manually compiled antibiogram. Future research will examine the impact of the e-antibiogram on antibiotic prescribing patterns.

Protection of Human and Animal Subjects

The study was performed in compliance with the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki on Ethical Principles for Medical Research involving human subjects, and was reviewed by the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Institutional Review Board.


Ethics Approval

The Institutional Review Board at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia approved the study protocol.


Funding

This work was supported by departmental funding.