Mandatory infectious diseases consultation leads to improved process measure adherence in the management of Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia: A multicentre, quasi-control study

Background: Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (SAB) results in high morbidity and mortality. Infectious diseases (ID) consultation for SAB has been associated with improved process measures and outcomes in SAB. Recent guidelines have been implemented to include ID consultation in the management of positive SAB culture. We sought to determine whether a policy of mandatory ID consultation for SAB would improve management and mortality. Methods: We conducted a retrospective quasi-experimental study of patients with SAB at three academic hospitals comparing adherence to process measures, and mortality as a secondary measure, before and after implementation of a hospital policy of mandatory ID consultation for all cases of SAB. Results: ID consultation was performed in 239/411 (58%) patients in the pre-intervention period and 196/205 (96%) patients in the post-intervention period (p < 0.0001). Compared with pre-intervention, mandatory consultation was associated with better adherence to quality process measures including echocardiography (319/411 (78%) versus 186/205 (91%) p < 0.0001), subsequent blood culture within 2–4 days (174/411 (42%) versus 143/205 (70%) p < 0.0001) and avoidance of vancomycin as definitive antibiotic therapy for methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) (54/347 (16%) versus 13/177 (7%) p = 0.0082). In-hospital mortality rate was 94/411 (23%) in the pre-intervention group and 33/205 (16%) in the post-intervention group. The unadjusted sub-distribution hazard ratio (sHR) for in-hospital mortality in the postintervention period was 0.67 (95% CI 0.45 to 0.99, p = 0.0447). After adjusting for significant prognostic factors, post-intervention in-hospital mortality had an sHR of 0.79 (95% CI 0.52 to 1.20, p = 0.2686). Conclusions: A policy of mandatory ID consultation for patients with SAB was easily implemented leading to consultation in nearly all SAB patients and improved adherence to standard of care process measures. In-hospital mortality did not improve significantly after adjusting for patient characteristics. Our study provides the framework to support this easily implemented institutional policy in academic hospitals.