Early Antibiotic Discontinuation in Patients With Clinically Suspected Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia and Negative Quantitative Bronchoscopy Cultures

OBJECTIVES:Preliminary data suggest that antibiotic discontinuation in patients with negative quantitative bronchoscopy and symptom resolution will not increase mortality. Because our hospital algorithm for antibiotic discontinuation rules out ventilator-associated pneumonia in the setting of negative quantitative bronchoscopy cultures, we compared antibiotic utilization and mortality in empirically treated, culture-negative ventilator-associated pneumonia patients whose antibiotic discontinuation was early versus late. DESIGN:Retrospective, observational cohort study. SETTING:Eight hundred sixty-seven bed, tertiary care, teaching hospital in Hartford, CT. PATIENTS:Eighty-nine patients with clinically suspected ventilator-associated pneumonia and a negative (