Using Procalcitonin to Safely Reduce Antibiotic Use

The Right Test to Improve Patient Outcomes

Overuse of antimicrobials is estimated at a rate of 50% in the acute care setting. It is a practice that has been well documented for more than thirty years. While most everyone acknowledges this overuse, the rate has not improved since we began measuring the use of antibiotics. Overuse can lead to poor patient outcomes, antibiotic resistance, Clostridium difficile infections, longer lengths of stay, more adverse drug events, increased mortality, readmission, and increased costs to the patient and hospital.

This is understandable as clinicians tend to err on the side of caution. Clinical symptoms of many diagnoses are similar, and it is often difficult to determine the need for antibiotics based on clinical presentation, radiology images, and markers other than procalcitonin (PCT). It is easy to fall prey to prescribing antibiotics “just to be sure” with the assumption that more is better.

Thousands of publications have shown that insights from a highly sensitive and specific marker like procalcitonin have led to more appropriate prescribing and earlier cessation of antibiotics, improved clinical outcomes, and reduced economic burden.

This webinar will focus on how to expertly use PCT to safely reduce antibiotic use and improve outcomes.

Learning Objectives

This webinar will help you:

• Differentiate the pathophysiology and kinetics of PCT compared to current biomarkers
• Establish the role of PCT in antimicrobial stewardship
• Evaluate the expected clinical and financial outcomes of PCT-guided therapy

Watch on Demand       Download Slides (PDF, 3MB)

For research use only. Not for diagnostic procedures.

This webinar is produced by Whitehat Communications, a provider of continuing education programs in clinical laboratory sciences that has been approved by the ASCLS P.A.C.E.™ Program. One P.A.C.E. credit hour will be provided for this complimentary, basic-level program.

Mike Broyles, PharmD

Dr. Broyles spent more than 30 years working as a hospital pharmacy and laboratory director and 28 years consulting for a large integrated healthcare network (IHN) as their pharmacy advisory chairman. He has also consulted for more than 25 of the 40 largest IHNs in the U.S. on antimicrobial stewardship and procalcitonin use. Dr. Broyles serves in antimicrobial stewardship roles for the state of Arkansas and for Medscape Infectious Diseases and Biomarkers. He recently served as a global expert consensus member on PCT guided antibiotic therapy in hospitals and presented to the FDA about use of PCT in sepsis and lower respiratory tract infections. In addition, he has published in numerous publications about the clinical and financial benefits of procalcitonin aided therapy. Dr. Broyles’ hospital was the second user of procalcitonin in the U.S. and continues to advance its clinical applications.