About
Assistant Professor
Department of Medicine
Lundquist/Harbor-UCLA
Project title: Using Research in Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus to Validate an Efficient System of Quantifying Antibiotic Utilization
Mentors:
Loren G. Miller, MD, MPH – LundquistHarbor-UCLA
Susan S. Huang, MD, MPH – UC Irvine
Martin F. Shapiro, MD, PhD – UCLA
Multidisciplinary Expertise:
Infectious Disease, Health Services Research, Clinical Trials, and Clinical Outcomes Research
Project Description:
Approximately 100,000 Americans die every year from infections acquired in hospitals. HAI due to Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus spp. (VRE) are of particular concern. VRE HAI’s disproportionately affect the most immunocompromised hosts, such as organ transplant recipients, and the severely immunosuppressed. Each VRE bloodstream infection (VRE-BSI) is associated with $50,000 of additional healthcare costs and a 35% attributable mortality. The purpose of this investigation is to 1) evaluate the association between antibiotic use and VRE-BSI incidence, 2) investigate VRE-BSI outcomes using improved methodologies, and 3) validate an electronic source of patient-level antibiotic usage data that can be used for investigations of VRE-BSI and further research on other important pathogens.
Dr. McKinnell will work to develop a database to evaluate the association between antibiotic use, VRE-BSI incidence, and outcomes of patients with VRE-BSI from data derived from Ronald Reagan Medical Center. He will also lead efforts to conduct a retrospective chart review to define the predictors of treatment success among hospitalized patients with VRE-BSI and validate the antibiotic database.