Table 3.

Antibiotic prescribing outcomes

Parameter	Baseline N=241 n (%)	Post-intervention N=480 n (%)	Adjusted effect size (95% CI)*
Primary outcome
Adherent to antibiotic guidelines†	121 (54.0)	261 (59.5)	1.41 (1.00, 1.98)
Secondary outcomes
Effective antibiotics prescribed in ED‡	110 (78.0)	227 (73.5)	0.75 (0.46, 1.22)
Appropriate prescription§	136 (57.1)	334 (69.9)	1.92 (1.37, 2.68)
Optimal prescription§	77 (32.4)	217 (45.4)	1.90 (1.35, 2.65)
Timing of antibiotics
Effective antibiotics <3 hours (sepsis and septic shock), N=450, median (IQR)†	78 (55.3)	194 (62.8)	1.36 (0.89, 2.06)
Time to first antibiotic (min), median (IQR)	95.0 (51.0–162.0)	92.0 (55.0–177.0)	0.76 (0.62, 0.94)
Antibiotic delivery time (septic shock only) (min),  N=87, median (IQR)¶	15.0 (5.0–24.0)	11.0 (5.0–21.8)	1.02 (0.61, 1.72)

*Adjusted for sepsis without shock, Charlson score, MRSA infection risk, febrile neutropenia and palliation status.

†Guideline adherence excludes cases with no guidelines for given indications or directed therapy.

‡Effectiveness of antibiotics only includes cases with confirmed organism susceptibility available (baseline N=141, post-intervention N=309).

§Prescription appropriateness excludes non-assessable cases (online supplemental figure S4) (baseline N=238, post-intervention N=478).

¶Delivery time (prescription to administration time) for audited shock cases only (baseline N=41, post-intervention N=46).

ED, emergency department; MRSA, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.