Fewer breathing-tube tests to prevent unnecessary antibiotic use in critically ill children
Official title: Respiratory Culture Stewardship to Reduce Antibiotic Use in Critically Ill Children
Funded at Johns Hopkins University · NIH-11281263 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project aims to reduce unneeded breathing-tube cultures so fewer critically ill children get antibiotics they may not need.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Johns Hopkins University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Baltimore, United States) |
| Project start | May 15, 2022 |
| Project end | February 28, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $457,726 |
| NIH project number | 5R01HS028634-05 |
| Project ID | NIH-11281263 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are children in the PICU who are on mechanical ventilation and might otherwise have respiratory cultures collected.
✕Less likely to help
Patients who are not on mechanical ventilation or who have clear signs of bacterial infection needing antibiotics are unlikely to benefit from this approach.
What this research studies
If your child is in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and on a breathing machine, clinicians would use a new guideline to decide when to collect respiratory (endotracheal) cultures. The guideline is meant to avoid routine tests that often grow bacteria that are only colonizing the tube and not causing infection. The team will track how often cultures are done, how often antibiotics are started, and safety measures like infection rates and length of stay. The effort focuses on safely lowering unnecessary antibiotic exposure for ventilated children.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could lower unnecessary antibiotic use and reduce antibiotic resistance and side effects for critically ill children.
How similar studies have gone: Diagnostic stewardship programs have cut unnecessary testing and antibiotic use in other hospital settings, though applying a standardized guideline to ventilated children is relatively novel.
Where this research is happening
-
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Milstone, Aaron M — Johns Hopkins University
- Study coordinator: Milstone, Aaron M
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.