Reference
1. Lail J, et al. Applying the Chronic Care Model to Improve Care and Outcomes at a Pediatric Medical Center. Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety. 2017;43(3):101-112.
FDA approves two new antibiotic tests
Hospitalists have two new FDA-approved tools available to help them make antibiotic treatment decisions.
The first is the expanded use of the Vidas Brahms PCT Assay, intended to be used in the hospital or emergency room. The test uses – for the first time – procalcitonin (PCT), a protein associated with the body’s response to a bacterial infection, as a biomarker that can help hospitalists make antibiotic management decisions in patients with those conditions. The results can help them determine if antibiotic treatment should be started or stopped in patients with lower respiratory tract infections (such as community-acquired pneumonia) and stopped in patients with sepsis.
The FDA has also allowed marketing of the PhenoTest BC Kit. This one is another first, the first test to identify organisms causing bloodstream infections and provide information about the antibiotics to which the organism is likely to respond.
The test can identify bacteria or yeast from a positive blood culture in approximately 1.5 hours (compared with traditional identification and antibiotic susceptibility tests, which can take one to two days). The test can identify 14 different species of bacteria and two species of yeast that cause bloodstream infections. It also provides antibiotic sensitivity information on 18 antibiotics. In addition, the test will identify the presence of two indicators of antibiotic resistance.
Quick byte
About a third of adverse events during hospitalizations involve a drug-related harm, resulting in longer hospital stays and increased costs, according to the New York Times. “The Institute of Medicine estimated that there are 400,000 preventable adverse drug events in hospitals each year, costing $3.5 billion. One-fifth of patients discharged from the hospital have a drug-related complication after returning home, many of which are preventable.”
Reference
1 Frakt A. How Many Pills Are Too Many? The New York Times. 2017 Apr 10. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/10/upshot/how-many-pills-are-too-many.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fhealth&action=click&contentCollection=health®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=6&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0. Accessed April 9, 2017.