Use of procalcitonin for antibiotic stewardship in patients with COVID-19: A quality improvement project in a district general hospital

Antibiotic stewardship during the COVID-19 pandemic is an important part of a comprehensive strategy to improve patient outcomes and reduce long-term adverse effects secondary to rising antibiotic resistance. This report describes a quality improvement project which incorporates the use of procalcit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clinical medicine (London, England) England), 2021-01, Vol.21 (1), p.e71-e76
Main Authors: Peters, Christina, Williams, Kelly, Un, Elena A, Little, Louisa, Saad, Abeer, Lendrum, Katherine, Thompson, Naomi, Weatherley, Nicholas D, Pegden, Amanda
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
antibiotic stewardship
Antibiotics
Antimicrobial agents
Bacterial infections
bacterial resistance
Biomarkers
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
COVID-19 rapid report
Data analysis
Drug resistance
Hospitals
Infections
Influenza
Pandemics
Patients
procalcitonin
Quality control
Quality improvement
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Summary:Antibiotic stewardship during the COVID-19 pandemic is an important part of a comprehensive strategy to improve patient outcomes and reduce long-term adverse effects secondary to rising antibiotic resistance. This report describes a quality improvement project which incorporates the use of procalcitonin (PCT) testing to rationalise antibiotic prescribing in patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 at Chesterfield Royal Hospital. Data were collected from 118 patients with a total of 127 PCT levels checked over a period of 20 days. Each PCT level was correlated with the subsequent antibiotic outcome as well as the result of the COVID-19 PCR swab. Results indicate that antibiotics were either never started or were stopped within 48 hours in 72% of COVID-confirmed cases with a PCT less than 0.25 μg/L. Our findings suggest that procalcitonin testing, when used in combination with thorough clinical assessment, is a safe, simple and sustainable way of reducing antibiotic use in COVID-19.
ISSN:1470-2118
1473-4893
DOI:10.7861/clinmed.2020-0614