Evaluating the utility of procalcitonin and a clinical decision support tool to determine duration of antimicrobial therapy for respiratory tract infections.

Purpose: Procalcitonin (PCT) levels may play a role in decreasing the duration of antimicrobial therapy in institutions that have long durations of therapy for management of community-acquired pneumonia. We assessed the impact of the combination of pharmacist stewardship interventions assisted by a clinical decision support (CDS) tool and PCT assessment on the antimicrobial days of therapy (DOT) prescribed for respiratory tract infections (RTIs).

Methods: We conducted a quasi-experimental study in which patients in the preintervention group were admitted between April and June 2021 and patients in the intervention group were admitted between April and June 2022.