# Emphasizing the O in OPAT: A Pathway for Clinic-Initiated Outpatient Parenteral Antimicrobial Therapy (CI-OPAT) at an Academic Center

## TL;DR

This paper describes a successful outpatient program for administering antibiotics that avoids hospital visits and is safe for selected patients.

## Contribution

The paper introduces a clinic-initiated outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy program with low complication rates.

## Key findings

- 59 outpatients were treated with CI-OPAT with low complication rates.
- The program successfully avoided unnecessary emergency department visits and inpatient admissions.
- CI-OPAT is shown to be safe and effective for appropriately selected patients.

## Abstract

Our infectious diseases (ID) clinic began a clinic-initiated outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (CI-OPAT) program to avoid unnecessary emergency department visits or inpatient admissions. In this single-center retrospective case series, we describe the treatment of 59 outpatients with CI-OPAT with low rates of complications. These findings suggest that CI-OPAT programs can be safe and effective.

Our infectious diseases clinic implemented a program for clinic-initiated OPAT (CI-OPAT) to avoid unnecessary emergency department visits and inpatient admissions. This single-center retrospective case series describes the treatment of 59 outpatients with CI-OPAT with low rates of complications suggesting that CI-OPAT programs can be safe and effective for appropriately selected patients.