Taking the route less traveled: on the way to COpAT

Margaret Pertzborn; Christina G Rivera; Don Bambino Geno Tai

doi:10.1177/20499361231192771

Taking the route less traveled: on the way to COpAT

Ther Adv Infect Dis. 2023 Aug 15:10:20499361231192771. doi: 10.1177/20499361231192771. eCollection 2023 Jan-Dec.

Authors

Margaret Pertzborn¹, Christina G Rivera², Don Bambino Geno Tai³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pharmacy, Mayo Clinic Health System, 1400 Bellinger Street, Eau Claire, WI 54702-1510, USA.
² Department of Pharmacy, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
³ Division of Infectious Diseases and International Medicine, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.

Abstract

Antimicrobial therapy is an essential practice within medicine. Over the last 4 years, complex outpatient antimicrobial therapy (COpAT) with oral antimicrobials has become a rapidly developing area of practice and is non-inferior to outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT) in certain infectious syndromes. Currently, the available literature does not describe the implementation of oral antimicrobials within the current outpatient antimicrobial therapy process. Throughout this article, the authors present a review of current literature, a proposed definition of COpAT and offer methods readers can utilize to implement an integrated COpAT/OPAT program with oral antimicrobial-specific monitoring within their current practice.

Keywords: COpAT; OPAT; antimicrobial therapy; artificial intelligence; bone and joint infections; complex outpatient antimicrobial therapy; endocarditis; oral antibiotics.

Publication types

Review