PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Christina Peters
AU  - Kelly Williams
AU  - Elena A Un
AU  - Louisa Little
AU  - Abeer Saad
AU  - Katherine Lendrum
AU  - Naomi Thompson
AU  - Nicholas D Weatherley
AU  - Amanda Pegden
TI  - Use of procalcitonin for antibiotic stewardship in patients with COVID-19: A quality improvement project in a district general hospital
AID  - 10.7861/clinmed.2020-0614
DP  - 2021 Jan 01
TA  - Clinical Medicine
PG  - e71--e76
VI  - 21
IP  - 1
4099  - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/21/1/e71.short
4100  - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/21/1/e71.full
SO  - Clin Med2021 Jan 01; 21
AB  - Antibiotic stewardship during the COVID-19 pandemic is an important part of a comprehensive strategy to improve patient outcomes and reduce long-term adverse effects secondary to rising antibiotic resistance. This report describes a quality improvement project which incorporates the use of procalcitonin (PCT) testing to rationalise antibiotic prescribing in patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 at Chesterfield Royal Hospital. Data were collected from 118 patients with a total of 127 PCT levels checked over a period of 20 days. Each PCT level was correlated with the subsequent antibiotic outcome as well as the result of the COVID-19 PCR swab. Results indicate that antibiotics were either never started or were stopped within 48 hours in 72% of COVID-confirmed cases with a PCT less than 0.25 μg/L. Our findings suggest that procalcitonin testing, when used in combination with thorough clinical assessment, is a safe, simple and sustainable way of reducing antibiotic use in COVID-19.