Antimicrobial Stewardship Techniques for Critically Ill Patients with Pneumonia

Jenna Adams; Kaitlin Ferguson; RaeAnn Hirschy; Erica Konopka; Jordan Meckel; Grace Benanti; Shannon Kuhrau; Fritzie Albarillo; Kevin Chang; Maressa Santarossa; Julia Sapozhnikov; Brian Hoff; Megan A Rech

doi:10.3390/antibiotics12020295

Antimicrobial Stewardship Techniques for Critically Ill Patients with Pneumonia

Antibiotics (Basel). 2023 Feb 1;12(2):295. doi: 10.3390/antibiotics12020295.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pharmacy, Loyola University Medical Center, 2160 S First Ave, Maywood, IL 60153, USA.
² Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Loyola University Medical Center, 2160 S First Ave, Maywood, IL 60153, USA.
³ Department of Emergency Medicine, Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University Chicago, 2160 S First Ave, Maywood, IL 60153, USA.

Abstract

Pneumonia is common in the intensive care unit (ICU), infecting 27% of all critically ill patients. Given the high prevalence of this disease state in the ICU, optimizing antimicrobial therapy while minimizing toxicities is of utmost importance. Inappropriate antimicrobial use can increase the risk of antimicrobial resistance, Clostridiodes difficile infection, allergic reaction, and other complications from antimicrobial use (e.g., QTc prolongation, thrombocytopenia). This review article aims to discuss methods to optimize antimicrobial treatment in patients with pneumonia, including the following: procalcitonin use, utilization of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus nares testing to determine need for vancomycin therapy, utilization of the Biofire^® FilmArray^® pneumonia polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and microbiology reporting techniques.

Keywords: Pseudomonas aeruginosa; antimicrobial stewardship; critically ill; methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus; pneumonia; procalcitonin.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.