The following is a summary of “Does clinician-initiated Clostridioides difficile testing improve outcomes of patients with Clostridioides Difficile infection?” published in the October 2023 issue of Infectious Control by Bartlett, et al.

Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile) is a common illness that people get in hospitals. It can have serious effects on patients and our healthcare system as a whole. This study looks at a policy change at a single-site Veterans Affairs Healthcare system that lets nurses at the bedside order C. difficile testing with doctors, giving nurses more time to get test results and start treatment.

Using descriptive statistics and paired student t-tests, the time it took to get data and start treatment was compared before and after the policy change, as well as between doctors and nurses. Researchers used logistic regression to look at variables linked to shorter ordering times while considering where patients were admitted and how long they stayed in the hospital. Before and after the policy change, there was a statistically significant difference (P <.05) in the time it took to get the answer and the type of buying service. In models that didn’t take into account other factors, nurses got test results faster than doctors (OR (95% CI) 1.72 (1.45-2.05)).

Giving nurses at the patient’s bedside more freedom to order the stool sample cut the time it took to get the results by a large amount. This could lower the risk of more infections in the patients and save the hospital money.

Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0196655323001001