Finding Could Reduce Antibiotic Use in Critically Ill Patients, Queen’s University Study

Measuring the levels of a natural body chemical may allow doctors to reduce the duration of antibiotic use and improve the health outcomes of critically ill patients. "Infection is a common and expensive complication of critical illness and we're trying to find ways to improve the outcomes of sick, elderly patients and, at the same time, reduce health care costs," says Daren Heyland, a professor of Medicine at Queen's, director of the Clinical Evaluation Research Unit at Kingston General Hospital, and scientific director of the Technology Evaluation in the Elderly Network. Prolonged antibiotic exposure is associated with an increase in drug-resistant pathogens. It makes sense, according to Dr. Heyland, to examine ways in which we might make the duration of antibiotic treatment more precise without compromising patient outcome.