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Laura Marks, MD, PhD and colleagues find patients with injection-related infections discharged on oral antibiotics may have high adherence with outpatient support

Researchers said patients who cannot complete 6 weeks of IV antibiotics for serious injection-related infections should be offered an alternative antibiotic plan and outpatient support. Source: Adobe Stock.

The opioid overdose epidemic is one of the leading causes of death in adults. Persons who inject drugs (PWID) are at increased risk of invasive bacterial and fungal infections and are frequently admitted to a hospital for serious injection-related infections (SIRI).Patients with SIRI discharged on oral antibiotic regimens may have high adherence rates but need significant outpatient support. For their study, Marks and colleagues implemented a prospective multicenter bundled quality improvement project for all persons who inject drugs (PWID) with serious injection-related infections (SIRIs) and patient-directed discharge (PDD) at three hospitals in Missouri.

Patient demographics, comorbidities, 90-day readmissions, and substance use disorder clinic follow up were compared between PWID with PDD on oral antibiotics and those that completed IV antibiotics. The researchers compared the outcomes of PWID who were discharged on oral antibiotics (n = 155) with patients who completed IV antibiotics (61) and found no significant difference in 90-day readmission rates between the two groups (P = .819).

Read full article: Sophia Lewis, Stephen Y Liang, Evan S Schwarz, David B Liss, Rachel P Winograd, Nathanial S Nolan, Michael J Durkin, Laura R Marks. Patients With Serious Injection Drug Use–Related Infections who Experience Patient-Directed Discharges on Oral Antibiotics Have High Rates of Antibiotic Adherence but Require Multidisciplinary Outpatient Support for Retention in Care. Open Forum Infectious Diseases, Volume 9, Issue 2, February 2022, ofab633,.  https://academic.oup.com/ofid/article/9/2/ofab633/6499353