AI-Guided Tool May Reduce Use Of C. Difficile-Associated Antimicrobials In Hospital Settings, Study Finds

Healio (7/25, Byrne) reported a study found that “an AI-guided infection prevention tool did not significantly reduce incidence of Clostridioides difficile infection in a hospital setting, but it did reduce use of antimicrobials that increase risk for infection.” Study results indicated “127 cases of C. difficile before AI implementation and 148 cases after, for an adjusted incidence rate of 5.76 per 10,000 patient-days vs. 5.65 per 10,000 patient-days – a difference that did not reach statistical significance.” However, the researchers “did observe reductions in use of ampicillin-sulbactam, piperacillin-tazobactam and clindamycin, especially for high-risk hospitalizations notified via AI alert (relative reduction for piperacillin-tazobactam.” The study was published in JAMA Network Open.