IVP shortens antibiotic administration in ED patients with sepsis

Intravenous push (IVP) of piperacillin-tazobactam results in shorter time to antibiotic administration in emergency department (ED) patients presenting with sepsis, reports a study.

A team of investigators conducted this retrospective cohort study to determine whether conversion from intravenous piggyback (IVPB) to IVP reduced the time to antibiotic administration in a total of 486 ED patients with sepsis.

Of the patients, 127 in each group were included in the final analysis. The mean time to administration of piperacillin-tazobactam was 67 minutes in the IVPB cohort and 58 minutes in the IVP cohort (p=ns). The time to administration of secondary antibiotics decreased by 38 minutes in patients treated with piperacillin-tazobactam administered via IVP (105 vs 67 min; p<0.001).

In addition, nurse administration time in the IVP group decreased by 11 minutes for piperacillin-tazobactam (54 vs 43 min; p=0.034) and 40 minutes for secondary antibiotics (90 vs 50 min; p<0.001). No difference was observed in hypersensitivity reactions, hospital length of stay, or mortality.

“Conversion from piperacillin-tazobactam IVPB to IVP was associated with a reduction in time to piperacillin-tazobactam and secondary antibiotic administration in ED patients with sepsis,” the investigators said.

“Further prospective research is needed to evaluate clinical outcomes associated with IVP administration,” they added.