Microbiology Results for Critical Patients: A 2023 Perspective

The Importance of MIC Results for Treating Critical Patients

The role of the microbiology laboratory and the choice of antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) method is crucial to determining the appropriate treatment for severe infections in critically ill patients. Delayed or inaccurate results, especially for patients with multi-drug resistant infections, can lead to less effective treatment and potential mortality.

Accurate minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) data can reduce turn-around times and favorably impact therapeutic decisions. The use of new generation therapeutics like sulbactam/durlobactam and MIC results for determining optimal treatment are critical in the face of growing antibiotic resistance. The availability of accurate broth microdilution-based MICs for new antibiotics can help improve patient outcomes and reduce the lengths-of-stay, therapeutic dosages and duration, adverse reactions, and costs.

Actions taken by the antimicrobial stewardship team to enforce the judicious use of antimicrobials are most effective when supported by timely diagnostic information from and collaboration with microbiology laboratory personnel.

Effective collaborations among microbiologists, clinicians, the antimicrobial stewardship team, and policy makers can help improve patient care and meet the challenges of increased antibiotic resistance in a post-COVID world.

Learning Objectives

This webinar will help you:

• Review the challenges of treating and managing critically ill patients
• Describe how MIC results for new generation therapeutics are used to manage patient care
• Summarize how effective diagnostic and antimicrobial stewardship can help combat resistance
• Explain the importance of MIC results and breakpoints

Watch on Demand       Download Slides (PDF, 3.2MB)

Fisher Healthcare is approved as a provider of continuing education programs in the clinical laboratory sciences by the ASCLS P.A.C.E.™ Program. One P.A.C.E.™ credit-hour will be provided for this complimentary basic level program.

James A. McKinnell, MD

Dr. James A. McKinnell is an associate professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is a member of the Infectious Disease Clinical Outcome Research Unit (ID-CORE) and the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA. A nationally recognized infectious disease specialist with research interests in the clinical management and prevention of nosocomial infections, Dr. McKinnell has published over 40 papers about antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance in the community.