Procalcitonin Test Availability: A Survey of Acute Care Hospitals in Massachusetts

• Published in: Annals of the American Thoracic Society Vol. 14; no. 9; pp. 1489 - 1491
• Main Authors: Fisher, Kimberly A, Landyn, Valentina, Lindenauer, Peter K, Walkey, Allan J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Thoracic Society 01.09.2017
• Subjects: Algorithms; Antibiotics; Bacterial infections; Clinical decision making; Clinical medicine; Clinical trials; Cost control; Decision making; Hospitals; Infections; Intensive care; Laboratories; Letters; Onsite; Sepsis; Studies; Massachusetts
• ISSN: 2329-6933; 2325-6621
• DOI: 10.1513/AnnalsATS.201704-306RL

To impact clinical decision-making and shorten antibiotic duration, the results of PCT testing must be rapidly available. [...]one possible explanation for failure to translate trial results into clinical practice is that PCT test results may not be as rapidly available in routine clinical practice as in clinical trials. [...]for-profit hospitals may be more likely to perform PCT testing at a send-out laboratory for cost-savings reasons, or hospitals with higher quality ratings (e.g., Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services [CMS] stars) may be more likely to offer evidence-based testing. [...]we collected descriptive data about each hospital (hospital size, profit status, teaching status, affiliation with multihospital system, and star rating) using publicly available information from the CMS Hospital Compare website (https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/search.html) and from the Massachusetts Center for Health Information and Analysis hospital profile website (http://www.chiamass.gov/ massachusetts-hospitals/). [...]we did not assess other potential barriers that may also contribute to the limited impact of PCT in reducing antibiotic use in routine clinical practice. Nephro/ Dia/ Transplant 2016;62:e77. 2 National action plan for combating antibiotic-resistant bacteria. 2015 [accessed 2017 Mar 20] Available from: https://obamawhitehouse. archives.gov/sites/default/files/docs/national_action_plan_for_combating_ antibotic-resistant_bacteria.pdf 3 Assicot M, Gendrel D, Carsin H, Raymond J, Guilbaud J, Bohuon C. High serum procalcitonin concentrations in patients with sepsis and infection.