Jonathan Williams Nicholas J Mercuro Amit Vahia Hira Rizvi Mujtaba Hameed Pallavi Bhargava Odaliz Abreu-Lanfranco Linoj Samuel George J. Alangaden
Henry Ford Health System
05-01-2019
Background: Due to poor sensitivity, the FDA mandated that rapid influenza antigen (IAT) must be phased out by 2018. At our institution, an on-site rapid influenza PCR (PCR) was implemented in emergen..
Background: Due to poor sensitivity, the FDA mandated that rapid influenza antigen (IAT) must be phased out by 2018. At our institution, an on-site rapid influenza PCR (PCR) was implemented in emergency departments (ED) at the start of the 2016-2017 influenza season. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of influenza PCR testing on antimicrobial utilization in the ED. Methods: This multicenter quasiexperimental study included adults over the age of 50 who were tested for influenza, and discharged from the ED. Subjects were matched 2:1 by age, sex, month of testing, and ED site. The pre-implementation group had IAT (Jan-Apr 2016) and the post-implementation had PCR testing (Jan-Apr 2017). The primary outcome was antiviral utilization. Other outcomes included diagnostic yield, test turnaround time (TAT), receipt of antibiotics, and 30-day revisit.Results: The PCR group of 116 patients (pts) were matched to 232 pts in IAT group (Table 1). Positive results for influenza were reported in 37.9% of PCR versus 18.1% of IAT groups (p