RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the outcome differences between patients receiving piperacillin-tazobactam pre- and post-implementation of an extended infusion dosing protocol in a community teaching hospital adult intensive care unit. METHODS: On December 19th, 2011, extended infusion dosing of piperacillin-tazobactam was implemented at St. John's Hospital's intensive and cardiac care units (ICU/CCU) following IRB-approval. This is a historical case-control cohort study involving review of electronic medical charts of patients who received traditional or extended infusion therapy. Data was collected for patients that received piperacillin-tazobactam in the ICU/CCU from December 19th, 2010 through March 19th, 2011 for traditional infusion and from December 19th, 2011 through March 19th, 2012 for extended infusion. Primary endpoints were ICU/CCU mortality at discharge and length of stay. RESULTS: The study included 113 patients with 52 in the traditional-infusion group and 61 extended-infusion group. There was no statistically significant difference in the primary end-point of ICU/CCU mortality between the two groups (14.8% vs. 21.1%; p = 0.374). In the extended infusion group, there was a shorter length of ICU and CCU stay (8.32 vs. 12.06 days; p = 0.025) and shorter length of hospital stay (11.32 vs. 19.7 days; p = 0.006). The extended-infusion group showed a decrease in cost of therapy that was statistically significant ($120.21 vs. $155.17; p = 0.035). Adverse drug effects did not differ between the two study groups. CONCLUSION: This study showed that treatment with extended-infusion piperacillin-tazobactam therapy improved patient outcomes while maintaining patient safety and decreasing costs.