Title
Sustainability of the de-implementation of low-value care in infants with bronchiolitis: 2-year follow-up of a cluster randomised controlled trial.
Author(s)
Ramsden, Victoria
Babl, Franz E
Haskell, Libby
Wilson, Catherine
Middleton, Sandy
Schembri, Rachel
King, Alex
Wallace, Alexandra
Partyka, Alison
Baldock, Casey
Wong, Julian
Steinmann, Kai
Mills, Louise
Phillips, Natalie
Poulter, Nola
Jani, Shefali
Kenny, Suzanne
Oakley, Ed
Wilson, Peter
McInnes, Elizabeth
Dalziel, Stuart
Tavender, Emma
Abstract
In 2017, the PREDICT (Paediatric Research in Emergency Departments International Collaborative) network conducted a cluster randomised controlled trial (cRCT) at 26 Australian and New Zealand hospitals to improve bronchiolitis care. Findings demonstrated that targeted interventions significantly improved adherence with five evidence-based low-value bronchiolitis practices (no chest radiography, salbutamol, glucocorticoids, antibiotics and epinephrine) in the first 24 hours of hospitalisation (adjusted risk difference, 14.1%; 95% CI: 6.5% to 21.7%; p<0.001). During the intervention year (2017), intervention hospital (n=13) compliance was 85.1% (95% CI: 82.6% to 89.7%). This study aimed to determine if improvements in bronchiolitis management were sustained at intervention hospitals 2 years post-trial completion.International, multicentre follow-up study of hospitals in Australia and New Zealand that participated in a cRCT of de-implementation of low-value bronchiolitis practices, 1 year (2018) and 2 years (2019) post-trial completion, obtained retrospectively from medical audits. Sustainability was defined a priori as no more than a <7% decrease to any level of improvement in adherence for all five low-value practices (composite outcome) from the cRCT intervention year.Of the 26 hospitals, 11 intervention and 10 control hospitals agreed to participate in the follow-up study. Data were collected on 3299 infants with bronchiolitis 1 year (intervention and control hospitals) and 1689 infants 2 years post-trial (intervention hospitals). Adherence with no use of the five low-value practices 2 years post-trial completion was 80.9% (adjusted predicted adherence, 80.8%, 95% CI: 77.4% to 84.2%; estimated risk difference from cRCT outcome -3.9%, 95% CI: -8.6% to 0.8%) at intervention hospitals, fulfilling the a priori definition of sustainability.Targeted interventions, delivered over one bronchiolitis season, resulted in sustained improvements in bronchiolitis management in infants 2 years later. This follow-up study provides evidence for sustainability in de-implementing low-value care in bronchiolitis management.Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry No: ACTRN12621001287820.
Publication information
BMJ Qual Saf . 2025 Jul 12:bmjqs-2024-018135. doi: 10.1136/bmjqs-2024-018135. Online ahead of print.
Date Issued
2025-07-12
Type
Journal Article
Journal Title
BMJ quality & safety
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