The 2021 Surviving Sepsis Campaign Guidelines recommend administration of antimicrobials within the first hour of recognition of sepsis. Over the last decade, several studies have demonstrated improved time-to-antibiotic administration and antibiotic appropriateness when a pharmacist was involved in the care of patients with sepsis. To our knowledge, no studies evaluating the appropriate use of antibiotics in sepsis driven entirely by an Emergency Medicine (EM) Clinical Pharmacist Practitioner (CPP) have been published. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of an EM CPP-driven protocol on antimicrobial interventions in patients with sepsis in the emergency department (ED).

This was a retrospective comparison of patients with sepsis for whom antimicrobials were ordered in the ED without pharmacist intervention to patients whose antimicrobials were ordered by an EM CPP via a sepsis consult to pharmacy. An EM CPP reviewed individual patient profiles for pertinent historical admissions, culture data, and allergy profiles to guide antimicrobial selection for the suspected source of infection and entered orders under their scope of practice with formal documentation in the electronic medical record (EMR). The primary objective of this study was to compare the rates of appropriate empiric antibiotic utilization in septic patients admitted from the ED pre- and post-protocol implementation. Secondary endpoints included the following, broadening of ED-initiated empiric antibiotics on hospital admission, time-to-antibiotic administration, in-hospital mortality, Rapid Emergency Medicine Score (REMS) association with in-hospital mortality, and hospital length of stay.

A total of 144 patients were included: 80 patients prescribed antibiotics without pharmacist intervention and 64 prescribed antibiotics by an EM CPP. Appropriate empiric antibiotic selection in the ED improved from 57.5% (46/80) to 86% (55/64) with EM CPP intervention (difference 28.5%; p < 0.01). Time-to-first antibiotic administration decreased by 64 min (p < 0.01). Administration of antibiotics within 60 min, broadening of antibiotics on admission, hospital length of stay, and in-hospital mortality did not significantly differ across groups.

In this small, single-center study, an EM Clinical Pharmacist Practitioner-driven protocol for patients with sepsis in the emergency department improved the rate of appropriate empiric antimicrobial selection and time-to-antibiotic administration.