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Researchers found combining a 15-pathogen point-of-care (POC) respiratory viral panel with an antimicrobial stewardship intervention program resulted in reduced antibiotic prescribing in an urgent care setting in Louisiana, as published in Microbiology Spectrum. Alongside the stewardship program—which included patient education and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s MITIGATE tool kit—the POC panel was used for 296 adult patients, and results were compared with 600 seasonally matched historical controls. Overall antibiotic prescribing decreased from 38.2% to 24.3% postintervention (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.50; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.36–0.68). Inappropriate antibiotic use also decreased from 30.8% to 15.9%. Steroid prescribing declined from 29.0% to 17.9% (aOR 0.55; 95% CI 0.39–0.78). Fifty-two percent of tested patients had a viral pathogen identified with the POC testing, and 5% tested positive for more than 1 pathogen. The positive test results included:
- COVID-19: 65.58%
- Rhinovirus/enterovirus: 25.97%
- Seasonal coronavirus: 5.20%
- Parainfluenza: 1.95%
- Metapneumovirus: 1.95%
- Adenovirus: 0.65%
- Epstein-Barr virus: 0.65%
- Influenza A: 0.65%
- Mycoplasma pneumonia: 0.65%
Program implementation: This study took place in a high-volume community urgent care with about 20,000 annual visits. The POC test maker, bioMérieux, funded the study, and the authors note, “financial constraints, including the cost of POC devices and reimbursement issues, remain significant barriers” to implementation of a program like this.