Evaluating Interpretive Comments on Faecal PCR Test Reports to Influence Antibiotic Use for Bacterial Gastroenteritis in New Zealand

What this Trial Is About

Researchers are studying bacterial gastroenteritis in New Zealand, focusing on how interpretive comments on laboratory reports affect antibiotic prescribing after faecal PCR testing. This common illness is usually self-limiting, and current guidelines recommend against antibiotics for most cases. Despite this, antibiotic use remains high, which could cause individual side effects and contribute to antimicrobial resistance. The study is a cluster randomized crossover trial involving four laboratories within the Awanui Labs network. Each lab will use four different interpretive comment approaches in random order over 12 months, with each approach lasting three months. The comments range from reminders about guideline-based care to warnings about antibiotic overuse harms at both individual and population levels. One group will have no comment added, serving as a control. Participants are patients whose stool samples test positive for specific bacterial pathogens. Researchers will track antibiotic dispensing within five and thirty days after the lab report and monitor unplanned hospital admissions during the same periods. The study aims to understand if interpretive comments influence antibiotic use and patient outcomes over the one-year study duration.

Antimicrobial Stewardship Effects of Interpretive Comments for Faecal PCR Tests