Increasing Awareness of the Centor Tool
Presentation
Overview
Overview
Description
Problem/Purpose: Antibiotics are often inappropriately prescribed, which leads to concerns for antibiotic resistance. One of the most common complaints seen in primary care and urgent care offices are pharyngitis complaints, and of the top three upper respiratory symptoms in which antibiotics are inappropriately prescribed. Utilizing evidence-based tools, such as the Centor Tool, can aid providers in clinical decision making and treatment plans. The purpose of this Quality Improvement project was to increase awareness and utilization of this clinical tool, with the aim to decrease unnecessary testing and inappropriate antibiotic prescribing by employing and increasing awareness of the Centor.
Design: This was a Quality Improvement project that utilized pre and post pre-implementation data to look at outcome measures.
Setting: This Quality Improvement was conducted in Eastern North Carolina at three walk-in urgent care clinics. Participants included licensed practical nurses, and advanced care clinicians.
Participants/Target Audience: Nurse Educators, Registered Nurses, and Advanced Practice Clinicians
Methodology: A 12-week implantation period consisted of tracking data on a weekly basis including diagnosis codes used for patient encounters, Centor criterion scores documentation, rapid strep testing, and antibiotic prescribing. This data was then compared to pre-intervention data to compare and analyze trends.
Results/Outcomes: Post implementation surveys were sent to participants (n=19). While there was low (n=8) return rate, only 50% of the respondents were aware of the Centor tool prior to this project, and furthermore only 25% disclosed to having used the tool. Overall results were positive with a decrease in unnecessary testing, improved prescribing rates, and positive participant feedback.
Implications for future practice: As suggested by evidence-based guidelines, the Centor tool can assist clinicians in determining when testing for group A strep pharyngitis is warranted, which can ultimately lead to a decrease in unnecessary testing and a reduction in inappropriate antibiotic prescribing. The Centor tool improved the standards of care to ensure patients were screened and antibiotics were prescribed appropriately. It is imperative that as nurse educators, we aim to increase awareness of clinical decision-making tools and embed recommendations for use into our curriculum.
