Artificially Elevated Tacrolimus Concentrations Obtained From a Venous Catheter Previously Used for Tacrolimus Administration in a Pediatric Patient.

Intravenous (IV) administration of calcineurin inhibitors, cyclosporine (CsA) and tacrolimus (TAC), has been associated with spuriously high serum concentrations collected from central venous catheters (CVCs) used for medication administration, secondary to reversible adsorption of medication to the catheter. Thus, therapeutic drug monitoring of IV CsA and TAC via CVCs previously exposed to these agents should be interpreted cautiously and ideally avoided. The duration of this effect is poorly characterized and the risk for extension of this effect to unexposed lumens of the same central catheter remains uncertain. We describe a case of a pediatric patient with artificially elevated serum TAC concentrations obtained from previously exposed and unexposed lumens of a central catheter, 27 days after last IV TAC administration.

A multicentre stewardship initiative to decrease excessive duration of antibiotic therapy for the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia.

Background: The increased emphasis on pneumonia-related performance measures and patient outcomes has led hospitals to implement multifaceted approaches to quickly identify patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), start timely therapy and reduce readmission. However, there has been minimal focus on duration of therapy (DOT) and patients often receive prolonged antibiotic courses. The IDSA and American Thoracic Society (IDSA/ATS) CAP guidelines recommend 5 days of therapy for clinically stable patients that quickly defervesce and stewardship teams are well positioned to influence prescribing practices. Objectives: Determine the impact of a prospective stewardship intervention on total antibiotic DOT and associated clinical outcomes in hospitalized patients with CAP. Methods: This multicentre, quasi-experimental study evaluated three concurrent interventions over a 6 month period to promote appropriate DOT. All centres updated institutional CAP guidelines to promote IDSA/ATS-concordant DOT, provided education and conducted daily audit and feedback with intervention to provide patient-specific DOT recommendations. Results: A total of 600 patients with CAP were included (307 in the historical control group and 293 in the stewardship intervention group). The stewardship intervention increased compliance with DOT recommendations (42% versus 5.6%, P < 0.001) and reduced the median DOT per patient (6 versus 9 days, P < 0.001). Clinical outcomes, including mortality, readmission with pneumonia, presentation to the emergency centre/clinic with pneumonia and incidence of Clostridium difficile infection within 30 days of discharge, were not different between groups. Conclusions: This multicentre evaluation of a stewardship intervention in hospitalized CAP patients reduced the total antibiotic DOT and increased guideline-concordant DOT without adversely affecting patient outcomes.