Infections in the Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation Setting: Improving Outcomes Through Interdisciplinary Care

Target Audience

This activity is directed to infectious disease physicians, critical care physicians, hospitalists, surgeons, pathologists, hematologists/oncologists, pharmacists, and other healthcare providers responsible for the prevention and management of infections in the HCT setting.

Program Overview

Infections with bacterial, viral, and fungal pathogens remain significant drivers of mortality in HCT. Given the impact of profound immunosuppression on the risk for infection, infectious complications are a major concern in this population. Modifiable factors contributing to the performance gap include inadequate interdisciplinary care, entrenched treatment patterns, limitations of current guidelines in addressing strategies for the immunocompromised population, and competency gaps in integrating newer therapeutic options into the treatment paradigm, particularly pharmacologic optimization. This initiative is focused on addressing those performance/competency gaps.

Learning Objectives

Upon completing this activity, participants should be better able to:

Identify risk factors for recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) in patients undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT)
Provide patient-tailored therapy for CDI in patients undergoing HCT
Select appropriate therapy to prevent and manage cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in patients undergoing HCT
Examine the interrelationship between CMV infection and fungal infection in patients undergoing HCT
Select appropriate therapy for hospital-acquired and ventilator-associated pneumonia (HABP/VABP) in patients undergoing HCT
Describe interdisciplinary team-based approaches to manage infections in the HCT setting