Kefir for C diff prevention

Kefir for C diff prevention

What if we could use groceries to save our patients? Internal Medicine resident Dr. Aynsley Duncan and her team are working to do just that, using kefir (a commercially available probiotic supplement)  to try to prevent Clostridium difficile infections in the ICU. Kefir is cheaper than most traditional probiotics and contains multiple strains, which has been linked to better C diff prevention in multiple studies.

Dr. Duncan is working with an interprofessional, multi-disciplinary team including residents, attendings, nutrition, pharmacy, nursing, ICU, and infection control to make these changes happen. Patients began receiving twice-daily kefir in April 2018, and the team hopes to review their six-month outcomes data soon — stay tuned for results on this exciting project!

This project is funded in part by an HQSC grant.