“Skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) are one of the top 10 reasons to visit a Canadian emergency department. Despite being so common, care is not standardized which has resulted in high treatment failure rates, overuse of intravenous antibiotics and unnecessary hospitalization. As a PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation Fellow, I will be afforded the critical support necessary to use multimethod, multidisciplinary approaches to develop and implement a best practices checklist for the diagnosis and management of SSTIs in the emergency department setting. This will standardize management of these common infections with the potential to reduce treatment failure, intravenous antibiotic use, and hospitalization. With support from the PSI Foundation, Ontario will be positioned as a leader in improving the care of Canadians with SSTIs.” – Dr. Krishan Yadav
PSI Foundation is pleased to announce Dr. Krishan Yadav as the recipient of the 2023 PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation Fellowship.
About Dr. Krishan Yadav
Dr. Krishan Yadav is an Associate Scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute with a focused area of expertise in the management of skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs; cellulitis; abscess) in the emergency department. He is an Assistant Professor with the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Ottawa. His research has been recognized nationally twice (in 2018 and 2022) with the Top New Investigator Abstract Award at the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians Annual Meeting. In 2020, he received the Junior Clinical Research Chair in Skin and Soft Tissue Infections at the University of Ottawa. To date, he has 52 publications in peer reviewed journals (12 as first author, 5 as senior author) and has 35 published abstracts at conference proceedings.
About the PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation Fellowship
Knowledge translation research aims at transitioning research discoveries to the real world to improve health outcomes. The PSI Graham Farquharson Knowledge Translation Fellowship – valued at $300,000 for over two or three years – helps protect a promising new clinician investigator’s research time, allowing the Fellow to undertake high-impact translational research in Ontario.
Fellowship Funds to be Used for Development and Implementation of a Best Practices Checklist for Emergency Department Management of Skin and Soft Tissue Infections
Skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) are bacterial infections affecting the skin and underlying tissues. SSTIs are one of the top 10 most common reasons to visit an emergency department in Canada. Patients with SSTIs have pain, redness and swelling (i.e., cellulitis) or boggy painful red skin due to underlying pus (i.e., abscess). For abscesses, the treatment is a bedside surgical drainage procedure, and some patients are prescribed antibiotics. For cellulitis, patients are treated with antibiotics.
The current treatment of SSTIs in emergency departments is not standardized and up to 20% fail treatment. Existing guidelines are not designed for use in the emergency department setting. Dr. Yadav’s overall goal is to design and implement an evidence-based, user-friendly best practices checklist for diagnosis and management of SSTIs in the emergency department. He will use robust KT approaches to: (1) Create a best practices checklist with engagement of key stakeholders; (2) Assess barriers and facilitators to checklist use in the emergency department; and (3) Conduct a pilot implementation trial in three Ontario emergency departments. This work has the potential to improve patient outcomes and reduce costs by standardizing care and reducing unnecessary intravenous antibiotic use, minimizing treatment failures, and lowering hospitalization.
