Quality Management Outweighs Pandemic: Retrospective Analysis Shows Improved Quality of Care for Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia Despite SARS-CoV-2
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Population Parameters
2.2. Quality Management Parameters
- Follow-up blood cultures: This parameter was considered to be met if follow-up blood cultures were taken every 48 to 96 h from the first positive blood culture until sterility was achieved.
- Echocardiography: This parameter was considered to be met if at least one transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) or transthoracic echocardiography (TEE) was performed. If only a TTE was performed, it was not determined whether an additional TEE would have been necessary or useful.
- Focus/metastasis search: This parameter was considered to be met if either a focus/metastasis was documented or, despite an unidentifiable focus at the clinic, further examinations (e.g., ultrasound, CT, MRI) were documented that were based on previous findings.
- Focus/metastasis control: This parameter was considered to be met if removal of catheters or devices or another focus/metastasis sanitation was documented.
- Adequate antibiotic therapy: This parameter was considered to be met if treatment was started early and with a suitable antibiotic (generally for MSSA: flucloxacillin or cefazolin, for MRSA: vancomycin or daptomycin, or if necessary other agents or combinations if effective and comprehensibly justified) and the duration of therapy was sufficiently long (uncomplicated SAB: at least 14 days after the first negative blood culture, complicated SAB: at least 4 weeks after the first negative blood culture, possibly longer for artificial valves or for other reasons, if comprehensibly justified).
- Antimicrobial Stewardship (AMS) team consultation: An AMS team consisting of an ID specialist, a microbiologist, a clinical pharmacist and a hygienist has been available since June 2021 [12]. From that point on, the parameter was taken into account and considered fulfilled if an AMS consultation was requested in the hospital information system.
2.3. Data Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Comparison of SARS-CoV-2-Negative and SARS-CoV-2-Positive Cases Within the “Pandemic Period”
3.2. Comparison of Cases Between the “Pre-Pandemic Period” and the “Pandemic Period”
3.3. Comparison of Cases with AMS Team Consultation and Cases Without AMS Team Consultation After June 2021 Within the “Pandemic Period”
4. Discussion
4.1. Principal Findings
4.2. Strengths and Limitations
4.3. Pandemic’s Negative Impact on the Mortality
4.4. Implications for Policy, Practice and Research
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
Abbreviations
AMS | Antimicrobial stewardship |
CCI | Charlson Comorbidity Index |
DH | Duration of hospital stay |
ID | Infectious diseases |
MRSA | Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus |
MSSA | Methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus |
QCI | Quality of care index |
SAB | Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia |
SARS-CoV-2 | Severe acute respiratory syndrome-corona virus-2 |
SOP | Standard operational procedure |
TEE | Trans-esophageal echocardiography |
TTE | Trans-thoracal echocardiography |
WHO | World Health Organization |
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Discrimination Parameter | |||
---|---|---|---|
SARS-CoV-2 | Negative | Positive | |
Population Parameters | p-Value | ||
N | 59 | 11 | |
Age (Median [IQR]) | 66 [58–79] | 77 [52–85] | 0.518 |
Male (n [%]) | 36 [61.0%] | 7 [63.6%] | 1.000 |
DH (Median [IQR]) | 20 [13–31] | 12 [7–21] | 0.088 |
MRSA (n [%]) | 3 [5.1%] | 0 [0.0%] | 1.000 |
CCI (Median [IQR]) | 5 [3–8] | 9 [4–11] | 0.026 * |
Mortality (n/N [%]) | 16/56 [28.6%] | 6 [54.6%] | 0.157 |
MSSA (n/N [%]) | 16/16 [100.0%] | 6/6 [100.0%] | |
MRSA (n/N [%]) | 0/16 [0.0%] | 0/6 [0.0%] | |
Source of infection (n [%]) | |||
Catheter-related (n [%]) | 8 [13.6%] | 0 [0.0%] | 0.333 |
Skin and soft tissue (n [%]) | 8 [13.6%] | 1 [9.1%] | |
Lung (n [%]) | 12 [20.3%] | 3 [27.3%] | |
Bone and joint (n [%]) | 11 [18.6%] | 1 [9.1%] | |
Infectious endocarditis (n [%]) | 7 [11.9%] | 0 [0.0%] | |
Urinary tract (n [%]) | 3 [5.1%] | 1 [9.1%] | |
Meningitis (n [%]) | 0 [0.0%] | 0 [0.0%] | |
Unidentified (n [%]) | 10 [17.0%] | 5 [45.4%] | |
Quality management parameters | p-value | ||
Follow-up blood cultures (n [%]) | 40 [67.8%] | 8 [72.7%] | 1.000 |
Echocardiography (n [%]) | 42 [71.2%] | 9 [81.8%] | 0.715 |
TTE (n [%]) | 26 [44.1%] | 3 [27.3%] | 0.342 |
TEE (n [%]) | 33 [55.9%] | 8 [72.7%] | 0.342 |
Focus/metastasis search (n [%]) | 48 [81.4%] | 9 [81.8%] | 1.000 |
Focus/metastasis control (n [%]) | 27 [45.8%] | 2 [18.2%] | 0.108 |
Adequate antibiotic therapy (n [%]) | 37 [62.7%] | 8 [72.7%] | 0.735 |
AMS consultation (n [%]) | 19 [32.2%] | 2 [18.2%] | 0.485 |
QCI (Median [IQR]) | 2 [2–3] | 3 [2–3] | 0.839 |
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Jakoby, L.; Molitor, E.; Mutters, N.T.; Weppler, R.; Rauschning, D.; Döhla, M. Quality Management Outweighs Pandemic: Retrospective Analysis Shows Improved Quality of Care for Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia Despite SARS-CoV-2. Diseases 2025, 13, 104. https://doi.org/10.3390/diseases13040104
Jakoby L, Molitor E, Mutters NT, Weppler R, Rauschning D, Döhla M. Quality Management Outweighs Pandemic: Retrospective Analysis Shows Improved Quality of Care for Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia Despite SARS-CoV-2. Diseases. 2025; 13(4):104. https://doi.org/10.3390/diseases13040104
Chicago/Turabian StyleJakoby, Lena, Ernst Molitor, Nico T. Mutters, Ruth Weppler, Dominic Rauschning, and Manuel Döhla. 2025. "Quality Management Outweighs Pandemic: Retrospective Analysis Shows Improved Quality of Care for Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia Despite SARS-CoV-2" Diseases 13, no. 4: 104. https://doi.org/10.3390/diseases13040104
APA StyleJakoby, L., Molitor, E., Mutters, N. T., Weppler, R., Rauschning, D., & Döhla, M. (2025). Quality Management Outweighs Pandemic: Retrospective Analysis Shows Improved Quality of Care for Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia Despite SARS-CoV-2. Diseases, 13(4), 104. https://doi.org/10.3390/diseases13040104