Led by Sunnybrook Hospital’s Dr. Brian Cuthbertson, the SuDDICU study – A study of the impact of preventative antibiotics (SDD) on patient outcome and antibiotic resistance in the critically ill in intensive care has been awarded funding by the Canadian Institute of Health Research’s “Strategy for Patient-Orienated Research (SPOR). Bloomberg Nursing Assistant Professor Craig Dale and Associate Professor Louise Rose are part of this multi-site, multi-year study, with Dr. Rose as one of 4 principal co-investigators and Dr. Dale as a co-investigator.
Approximately 20%-50% of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients experience infection(s) during their stay in the unit, with pneumonia being the most common. When ICU patients experience infection, they have longer stays in the hospital. With infection in hospital becoming increasingly difficult to treat, patients can often experience poor outcomes, including death. New methods to prevent infection are urgently needed.
Selective Decontamination of the Digestive (SDD) tract involves the prophylactic (or pre-emptive) application of topical antibiotics to the mouth and stomach coupled with a short course of intravenous antibiotics. Although not widely adopted into ICUs around the world (including Canada) due to concerns about antibiotic resistance, SDD has been demonstrated to reduce rates of infection and increase patient survival.
The SuDDICU study aims to assess whether adding SDD to a patient’s usual care in the ICU does more good than harm in reducing death and other poor outcomes among ICU patients. The study is patient-orientated research, which sees patients as partners, focusing on patient-identified priorities and improving patient outcomes.
Dr. Dale will be involved as an expert in oral care delivery during critical illness. Working with Dr. Rose, he will develop new knowledge about the optimal application of this novel therapy.
Dr. Rose will be responsible for the patient engagement and knowledge translation components of the study.