ESR 4.4
Optimizing infection management for intensive care patients by antimicrobial stewardship

Project

Optimizing early diagnosis and therapy of infections in patients admitted to an ICU is crucial to improving outcome. Positive clinical effects should be reflected partially in a reduced length of stay, reduced use of antimicrobials, and fewer complications. In order to optimize the work flow and support high quality of care, the candidate will further develop and use computerized tools (clinical decision support systems) to facilitate the early recognition of patients at the ICU who require intensified and directed diagnostic efforts. Furthermore, these tools will be used to early and dynamically adjust antimicrobial therapy, including stopping. One aspect of this project will be the clinical and financial analysis of the obtained results, with a focus on medical impact.
During a training period with the collaboration partner (IDMC) the candidate will receive training on the use of sophisticated electronic tools, such as highly condensed and integrated synoptic visualization of patient data and dynamically prioritized patient lists.

Supervisors

  • Bhanu Sinha, Department of Medical Microbiology » Link
  • Maarten Nijsten, Department of Critical Care, » Link
  • Iwan van der Horst, Department of Critical Care, » Link

University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

Collaborations

The projects will be performed in collaboration with IDMC (Enschede, The Netherlands), a young innovative company in this field.

Ron Hendrix, Medical Microbiology, Certe Laboratory for Infectious Diseases, Groningen, The Netherlands
Lisette van Gemert-Pijnen, Department of Psychology Health & Technology, Faculty Behavioral, Management & Social Sciences, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands
Jan-Willem Dik, Department of Medical Microbiology, UMCG , The Netherlands
Maarten Postma, Unit of PharmacoEpidemiology & PharmacoEconomics (PE2), Department of Pharmacy, University of Groningen, The Netherlands

Relevant publications

  1. Dik J-WH, Poelman R, Friedrich AW, Panday PN, Lo-Ten-Foe JR, van Assen S, et al. An integrated stewardship model. Future Microbiol. 2016 Jan;11(1):93–102.
  2. Dik J-WH, Hendrix R, Lo-Ten-Foe JR, Wilting KR, Nannan Panday P, van Gemert-Pijnen LE, et al. Automatic day-2 intervention by a multidisciplinary antimicrobial stewardship-team leads to multiple positive effects. Front Microbiol. 2015 Jun 3;6(546).
  3. Dik J-WH, Hendrix R, Poelman R, Niesters HG, Postma MJ, Sinha B, et al. Measuring the impact of antimicrobial stewardship programs. Expert Rev Anti Infect Ther. 2016 Jun;14(6):569–7.

Keywords

intensive care, clinical decision support system (CDSS), antimicrobial stewardship, work flow, quality of care