Timing of Antibiotics

Definition

Appropriate and timely antibiotic administration has been shown to decrease mortality in a variety of infectious conditions. While the while the optimal timing of antibiotic administration is not known, goals have been established for performance in the ICU and the ED.

This measure is defined as the median time in minutes to the administration of broad-spectrum antibiotic(s) from the time of presentation.

Note: While there are specific goals listed for the ICU and the ED in the Severe Sepsis Bundles, this measure ascertains the median time in minutes to antibiotic administration. This allows for assessment of the reliability of compliance with the goals outlined in the bundle, which is formally calculated on the Monthly Measurement Worksheet.  However, the number reported in Improvement Tracker is the actual median number of minutes until antibiotic administration for the institution as a whole.

Goal

Decrease the amount of time it takes to deliver broad-spectrum antibiotics to severely septic patients to 1 hour or less for patients admitted to the ICU and 3 hours or less for patients admitted to the ED.

Data Collection Plan

Data is collected for this measure on each individual patient using the Individual Chart Measurement Tool.  This can be done concurrently or retrospectively as detailed here.

Once all the Individual Chart Measurement Tools have been collected for the month, use the Monthly Measurement Worksheet to integrate the data by combining the results of all the Individual Chart Measurement Tools.

Note: For this measure only, there is no numerator or denominator for entry into Improvement Tracker.  Simply enter the median number of minutes as calculated from the Monthly Measurement Worksheet in Improvement Tracker. 

Related Changes

Improve Time to Broad-Spectrum Antibiotics

Sample Graph

Use Improvement Tracker to enter, save, and graph your team's data.