Use of Procalcitonin and a Respiratory Polymerase Chain Reaction Panel to Reduce Antibiotic Use via an Electronic Medical Record Alert.

Background: Respiratory tract infections are often viral and but are frequently treated with antibiotics, providing a significant opportunity for antibiotic de-escalation in patients. We sought to determine whether an automated electronic medical record best practice alert (BPA) based on procalcitonin and respiratory polymerase chain reaction (PCR) results could help reduce inappropriate antibiotic use in patients with likely viral respiratory illness.

Methods: This multisite, pre-post, quasi-experimental study included patients 18 years and older with a procalcitonin level <0.