Indication for antibiotics (categorised according to hospital guideline)
| Indication | Pre-PDSA n (%) | PDSA 1 n (%) | PDSA 2 n (%) | PDSA 3 n (%) | Post-PDSA n (%) | Total n (%) | P value* |
| Complicated†appendicitis or intra-abdominal collection | 12 (24) | 12 (23.1) | 14 (22.2) | 25 (25) | 8 (23.5) | 71 (23.7) | 0.96 |
| Pneumonia | 14 (28) | 7 (13.5) | 18 (28.6) | 12 (12) | 9 (26.5) | 60 (20.1) | 0.13 |
| Preseptal cellulitis | 4 (8) | 8 (15.4) | 5 (7.9) | 17 (17) | 2 (5.9) | 36 (12) | 0.34 |
| Appendicitis, uncomplicated | 1 (2) | 1 (1.9) | 1 (1.6) | 19 (19) | 5 (14.7) | 27 (9) | 0.06 |
| Urinary tract infection | 4 (8) | 5 (9.6) | 5 (7.9) | 5 (5) | 4 (11.8) | 23 (7.7) | 0.92 |
| Cellulitis | 4 (8) | 4 (7.7) | 1 (1.6) | 8 (8) | 2 (5.9) | 19 (6.4) | 0.6 |
| Acute cervical lymphadenitis | 2 (4) | 4 (7.7) | 7 (11.1) | 2 (2) | 3 (8.8) | 18 (6) | 0.51 |
| Pyelonephritis | 4 (8) | 3 (5.8) | 4 (6.4) | 1 (1) | 0 | 12 (4) | 0.12 |
| Skin abscesses and boils | 1 (2) | 2 (3.9) | 0 | 6 (6) | 0 | 9 (3) | 0.65 |
| Pleural empyema | 0 | 1 (1.9) | 2 (3.2) | 1 (1) | 0 | 4 (1.3) | 0.37 |
| Tonsillitis | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 (4) | 0 | 4 (1.3) | 0.37 |
| Acute osteomyelitis | 1 (2) | 1 (1.9) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 (0.7) | 0.21 |
| Orbital cellulitis | 0 | 0 | 1 (1.6) | 0 | 1 (2.9) | 2 (0.7) | 0.53 |
| Pneumococcal bacteraemia | 1 (2) | 0 | 1 (1.6) | 0 | 0 | 2 (0.7) | 0.21 |
| Pyomyositis | 1 (2) | 0 | 1 (1.6) | 0 | 0 | 2 (0.7) | 0.21 |
| Brain abscess | 1 (2) | 0 | 0 | 1 (0.3) | 0.03 | ||
| Deep surgical site infection | 0 | 0 | 1 (1.6) | 0 | 0 | 1 (0.3) | 0.65 |
| Epididymitis | 0 | 1 (1.9) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 (0.3) | 0.65 |
| Gram negative bacteraemia | 0 | 1 (1.9) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 (0.3) | 0.65 |
| Lung abscess | 0 | 1 (1.9) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 (0.3) | 0.65 |
| Mastoiditis | 0 | 0 | 1 (1.6) | 0 | 0 | 1 (0.3) | 0.65 |
| Retropharyngeal abscess | 0 | 0 | 1 (1.6) | 0 | 0 | 1 (0.3) | 0.65 |
| Superficial surgical site infection | 0 | 1 (1.9) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 (0.3) | 0.65 |
| Total | 50 | 52 | 63 | 100 | 34 | 299 (100) | NA |
*The p value is for pre-implementation compared with combined postimplementation data (PDSA1-Post-PDSA).
†Complicated appendicitis is defined as presence of perforation, peritonitis or pus in the peritoneum.
NA, not available; PDSA, Plan-Do-Study-Act.