• Christina Peters, Kelly Williams, Elena A Un, Louisa Little, Abeer Saad, Katherine Lendrum, Naomi Thompson, Nicholas D Weatherley, and Amanda Pegden.
• Chesterfield Royal Hospital, Chesterfield, UK.
• Clin Med (Lond). 2021 Jan 1; 21 (1): e71e76e71-e76.

AbstractAntibiotic stewardship during the COVID-19 pandemic is an important part of a comprehensive strategy to improve patient outcomes and reduce long-term adverse effects secondary to rising antibiotic resistance. This report describes a quality improvement project which incorporates the use of procalcitonin (PCT) testing to rationalise antibiotic prescribing in patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 at Chesterfield Royal Hospital. Data were collected from 118 patients with a total of 127 PCT levels checked over a period of 20 days. Each PCT level was correlated with the subsequent antibiotic outcome as well as the result of the COVID-19 PCR swab. Results indicate that antibiotics were either never started or were stopped within 48 hours in 72% of COVID-confirmed cases with a PCT less than 0.25 μg/L. Our findings suggest that procalcitonin testing, when used in combination with thorough clinical assessment, is a safe, simple and sustainable way of reducing antibiotic use in COVID-19.© Royal College of Physicians 2021. All rights reserved.

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