C-reactive protein- and clinical symptoms-guided strategy in term neonates with early-onset sepsis reduced antibiotic use and hospital stay: a quality improvement initiative

Table 2 Data on all infants who received antibiotics during the study periods

	Pre-implementation Period 1 (n = 7618)	Post-implementation Period 2 (n = 5005)	p-value
Any antibiotic treatment	185 (2.4)	128 (2.6)	0.72
Diagnosis, n(%)
No sepsis	45 (24)	31 (24)	0.98
Culture-negative sepsis who met the criteria	61 (33)	59 (46)	0.019
Culture-negative sepsis who did not meet the criteria	72 (39)	33 (26)	0.016
Culture-positive sepsis	7 (3.8)	5 (3.9)	0.96

All term neonates (week 37 + 0 to week 41 + 6) who received antibiotics or were classified as culture-negative sepsis or culture-positive sepsis at the unit during the study period. Patients with culture-negative sepsis were divided into two groups. One group who met the criteria of the new guidelines and another group who did not

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