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The following is a summary of “Feasibility of antimicrobial lead time as process and quality indicator for hospitals,” published in the March 2025 issue of European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases by Helou et al. 

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to assess the feasibility of retrieving antimicrobial lead time (ALT), variations in ALT across infectious diseases, and its association with length of stay (LOS) to assess its potential as a process or quality indicator (QI).  

They analyzed data from a tertiary care hospital in the Netherlands, including adult hospitalized individuals treated for infection over a 20-month period and ALT was calculated using data from the electronic health record system with computerized provider order entry.  

The results showed that 1,000 individuals (56.1% men, median age 61 years) were included. The median ALT was 1.05 hours and was significantly shorter in those with sepsis (n = 65) than in those with other infections (n = 935; 0.27 hours, interquartile range (IQR) 0.07–0.67 vs 1.18 hours, IQR 0.37–3.15; P < 0.001), while ALT was shorter when blood cultures were obtained (0.85 hours vs 1.77 hours; P < 0.001) but showed no significant difference between positive and negative blood cultures (0.63 hours vs. 0.94 hours; P = 0.053). Antimicrobials collected in the emergency room had a lower median ALT than those in medical wards (0.43 hours vs 1.57 hours; P < 0.001) and no association was found between ALT and LOS after adjusting for indication (P = 0.34).  

Investigators concluded that ALT was established as a sepsis QI, showed potential for meningitis and pneumonia, and served as a process indicator for drug administration across infections. 

Source: link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10096-025-05085-w#Abs1