(ref. BAP-2023-507)
The Allergy and Clinical Immunology Research Group, and the Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmocotherapy unit are looking for a talented PhD candidate to study the impact of a non-invasive clinical decision support tool for antibiotic allergy label delabeling and refinement. The Allergy and Clinical Immunology Research Group (PI of this project, Prof. Dr. Rik Schrijvers, co-PI Dr. Liesbeth Gilissen) is part of the department of microbiology, immunology and transplantation, faculty of medicine, KU Leuven, Belgium. We are active on several lines of research (drug, food, and hymenoptera venom allergy research) and accommodates 2 postdocs, 10 PhD students, 3 senior technicians, 1 part-time data manager, supervised by 5 principal investigators (clinician-researchers). The lab combines hard work and a productive output with a familial atmosphere. The lab is embedded into the University Hospital, in close proximity of our collaborating groups. The Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy unit (co-PI, Prof. Isabel Spriet) is part of the Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences. In the context of this project the group of Prof. Spriet focusses on "check of medication appropriateness" for antimicrobial stewardship. Both groups have a longstanding collaboration on this topic. - Selected references (see also https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=schrijvers+r&sort=date or https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=spriet+i&sort=date) Gilissen et al. Prevalence of Antibiotic Allergy Labels in a Tertiary Referral Center in Belgium. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology in Practice 2021: S2213-2198: 185-189. Van De Sijpe et al. Non-invasive delabeling and refining of beta-lactam allergy labels in inpatients to optimize antimicrobial stewardship. Allergy 2022: 77: 3157-3159.
ProjectAntibiotic allergy labels are observed in 7% of inpatient's charts. Although they are often incorrect, they are associated with increased lengthof hospital stay, and use of second-line and broad-spectrum antibiotics. We recently prospectively evaluated, for the first time in Europe, a non-invasive delabeling protocol using a questionnaire medical file search and contact with primary care health care workers, in adult internal medicine inpatients with a beta-lactam antibiotic allergy label. We showed that up to half of the AAL could be removed or refined, demonstrating the potential of this strategy. In this project, we aim to optimize and assess the impact of a semi-automated non-invasive clinical decision support tool for antibiotic allergy label delabeling and refinement on antibiotic use, clinical, microbiological, and economical outcome in inpatients receiving antibiotic therapy, and inpatients receiving perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis. Therefore, a multicenter cross-over cluster-randomized controlled trial and a monocentered pre-post study (at the University Hospital of Leuven) will be performed. The work is performed within a multidisciplinary team of allergologists, clinical pharmacists, infectiologists and health economists, supported by IT and legal consultants.
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Interested?For more information please contact Dr. Liesbeth Gilissen, mail: liesbeth.gilissen@kuleuven.be; or Prof. dr. Rik Schrijvers, mail: rik.schrijvers@kuleuven.be, or Prof. dr. Isabel Spriet, mail: isabel.spriet@kuleuven.be You can apply for this job no later than September 22, 2023 via the
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