Browsing by Author "Boyles, Tom H."

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    Antibiotic stewardship ward rounds and a dedicated prescription chart reduce antibiotic consumption and pharmacy costs without affecting inpatient mortality or re-admission rates
    (Public Library of Science, 2013-12-09) Boyles, Tom H.; Whitelaw, Andrew; Bamford, Colleen; Moodley, Mischka; Bonorchis, Kim; Morris, Vida; Rawoot, Naazneen; Naicker, Vanishree; Lusakiewicz, Irena; Black, John; Stead, David; Lesosky, Maia; Raubenheimer, Peter; Dlamini, Sipho; Mendelson, Marc
    Background Antibiotic consumption is a major driver of bacterial resistance. To address the increasing burden of multi-drug resistant bacterial infections, antibiotic stewardship programmes are promoted worldwide to rationalize antibiotic prescribing and conserve remaining antibiotics. Few studies have been reported from developing countries and none from Africa that report on an intervention based approach with outcomes that include morbidity and mortality. Methods An antibiotic prescription chart and weekly antibiotic stewardship ward round was introduced into two medical wards of an academic teaching hospital in South Africa between January-December 2012. Electronic pharmacy records were used to collect the volume and cost of antibiotics used, the patient database was analysed to determine inpatient mortality and 30-day re-admission rates, and laboratory records to determine use of infection-related tests. Outcomes were compared to a control period, January-December 2011. Results During the intervention period, 475.8 defined daily doses were prescribed per 1000 inpatient days compared to 592.0 defined daily doses/1000 inpatient days during the control period. This represents a 19.6% decrease in volume with a cost reduction of 35% of the pharmacy’s antibiotic budget. There was a concomitant increase in laboratory tests driven by requests for procalcitonin. There was no difference in inpatient mortality or 30-day readmission rate during the control and intervention periods. Conclusions Introduction of antibiotic stewardship ward rounds and a dedicated prescription chart in a developing country setting can achieve reduction in antibiotic consumption without harm to patients. Increased laboratory costs should be anticipated when introducing an antibiotic stewardship program.
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    Decision-making in the diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis
    (Wellcome Open Research, 2020-01-23) Boyles, Tom H.; Lynen, Lutgarde; Seddon, James A.; Tuberculous Meningitis International Research Consortium
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Tuberculous meningitis (TBM) is the most devastating form of tuberculosis (TB) but diagnosis is difficult and delays in initiating therapy increase mortality. All currently available tests are imperfect; culture of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is considered the most accurate test but is often negative, even when disease is present, and takes too long to be useful for immediate decision making. Rapid tests that are frequently used are conventional Ziehl-Neelsen staining and nucleic acid amplification tests such as Xpert MTB/RIF and Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra. While positive results will often confirm the diagnosis, negative tests frequently provide insufficient evidence to withhold therapy. The conventional diagnostic approach is to determine the probability of TBM using experience and intuition, based on prevalence of TB, history, examination, analysis of basic blood and CSF parameters, imaging, and rapid test results. Treatment decisions may therefore be both variable and inaccurate, depend on the experience of the clinician, and requests for tests may be inappropriate. In this article we discuss the use of Bayes' theorem and the threshold model of decision making as ways to improve testing and treatment decisions in TBM. Bayes' theorem describes the process of converting the pre-test probability of disease to the post-test probability based on test results and the threshold model guides clinicians to make rational test and treatment decisions. We discuss the advantages and limitations of using these methods and suggest that new diagnostic strategies should ultimately be tested in randomised trials.