Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There!

Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There!

An excellent analogy on how doing nothing can be the best option. Penalty kicks in soccer can make fans crumple with anguish or weep with elation. The kicker sends the ball rocketing toward the goal and goalkeepers lunge... read more

Antibiotic Guidelines Improve Prescription Practices for Vulnerable Infants

Antibiotic Guidelines Improve Prescription Practices for Vulnerable Infants

Yale University School of Medicine neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) significantly reduced the number of cases of late-onset sepsis, a leading cause of death among pre-term infants, by implementing guidelines designed to... read more

Delays in Antibiotic Administration for Sepsis

Todd Fraser, MD, speaks with Christopher W. Seymour, MD, MSc, about the article, "Delays From First Medical Contact to Antibiotic Administration for Sepsis," published in Critical Care Medicine. Dr. Seymour's article contends... read more

Better Detection & Response to Outbreaks with Enhanced Data

Better Detection & Response to Outbreaks with Enhanced Data

Established in 2016, CDC’s Antibiotic Resistance Laboratory Network (AR Lab Network) supports nationwide lab capacity to rapidly detect antibiotic resistance in healthcare, food, and the community, and inform local responses... read more

Clinical Impact of COPD on Non-cystic Fibrosis Bronchiectasis

Clinical Impact of COPD on Non-cystic Fibrosis Bronchiectasis

Clinical impact of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease on non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis. A study on 1,790 patients from the Spanish Bronchiectasis Historical Registry. Patients with BE related to COPD have the same... read more

Antibiotic Therapy in Comatose Mechanically Ventilated Patients Following Aspiration

Antibiotic Therapy in Comatose Mechanically Ventilated Patients Following Aspiration

Among comatose patients receiving mechanical ventilation, those without clinical, laboratory, or radiologic evidence of bacterial aspiration pneumonia did not require antibiotics. In those with suspected bacterial aspiration... read more

Update: Implementation of Antibiotic Stewardship Core Elements

Update: Implementation of Antibiotic Stewardship Core Elements

This document provides guidance on practical strategies to implement antibiotic stewardship programs in small and critical access hospitals. It was developed as a collaboration between The Centers for Disease Control and... read more

How to Remove the Grey Area Between VAP and VAT?

How to Remove the Grey Area Between VAP and VAT?

We read with great interest the study performed by Paula Ramirez and colleagues. The study included 71 patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) and the authors coined a new term called "gradual VAP".... read more

Evaluation of early antimicrobial therapy adaptation guided by the BetaLACTA test

Evaluation of early antimicrobial therapy adaptation guided by the BetaLACTA test

Rapid diagnostic tests detecting microbial resistance are needed for limiting the duration of inappropriateness of empirical antimicrobial therapy (EAT) in ICU patients, besides reducing the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics.... read more

A Placebo-Controlled Trial of Antibiotics for Smaller Skin Abscesses

A Placebo-Controlled Trial of Antibiotics for Smaller Skin Abscesses

Uncomplicated skin abscesses are common, yet the appropriate management of the condition in the era of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is unclear. As compared with incision and drainage... read more

WHO Resolution: Recognizing Sepsis as a Global Health Priority

WHO Resolution: Recognizing Sepsis as a Global Health Priority

The true burden of disease arising from sepsis remains unknown. The current estimates of 30 million episodes and 6 million deaths per year come from a systematic review that extrapolated from published national or local population... read more

A Randomized Trial of the Amikacin Fosfomycin Inhalation System for the Adjunctive Therapy of Gram-Negative VAP

A Randomized Trial of the Amikacin Fosfomycin Inhalation System for the Adjunctive Therapy of Gram-Negative VAP

Clinical failures in ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) caused by gram-negative bacteria are common and associated with substantial morbidity, mortality, and resource utilization. In this trial of adjunctive aerosol therapy... read more

WHO tries to keep certain antibiotics largely off the table

In a bid to battle antibiotic resistance, the World Health Organization for the first time has classified antibiotics into three categories, including one that lists the drugs it hopes will not be used except in circumstances... read more

Hospitalists can help improve antibiotic stewardship

Hospitalists can help improve antibiotic stewardship

Hospitalists can, and should, help curb unnecessary antibiotic use. Nearly three-quarters of patients who have been diagnosed with community acquired pneumonia are receiving antibiotics for longer periods than necessary,... read more

Infection Prevention and Healthcare Associated Infections

Infection Prevention and Healthcare Associated Infections

It is difficult to overstate the importance of healthcare associated infections (HAI). Approximately 4% of patients who enter hospitals in the United States develop an infection related to their hospital care. Although... read more

Antimicrobial Stewardship and Appropriate Antimicrobial Prescribing in Hospitals

Antimicrobial Stewardship and Appropriate Antimicrobial Prescribing in Hospitals

This study examines whether an antimicrobial stewardship approach grounded in behavioral theory and focusing on preserving prescriber autonomy and participation is associated with appropriateness of antimicrobial prescribing... read more

Serial Procalcitonin Predicts Mortality in Severe Sepsis Patients

Serial Procalcitonin Predicts Mortality in Severe Sepsis Patients

Objectives: To prospectively validate that the inability to decrease procalcitonin levels by more than 80% between baseline and day 4 is associated with increased 28-day all-cause mortality in a large sepsis patient population... read more