Dalbavancin and moleculight in the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 Pandemic, which began in March 2020, and its associated surges, had an immense impact on our medical staff and their ability to perform their daily duties. The COVID-19 Pandemic necessitated hospital modifications, including the expansion of the Emergency Department, ICU, and Isolation units. The overwhelmed staff and overburdened ER and ICU required adjustments to deal with the Inpatient impasse. For example, temporary patient care rooms needed to be set up for the overflow of patients. The tsunami of the Pandemic almost overwhelmed our hospital. With the challenges presented to our hospital during the Pandemic, we needed a fresh perspective to our multi-disciplinary approach. Thus, we fathomed that the use and cost-effectiveness of both Dalbavancin, a long-acting lipoglycopeptide antibiotic combined with the diagnostic Moleculight Imaging Device would be a sound decision. We hypothesized that with the use of this cost-effective antibiotic in conjunction with the use of the Moleculight Imaging Device, with its fluorescent imaging, we could detect the presence of bacteria and assist our wound treatment and decision-making. A shift in patients from the Emergency Room/Inpatient Department to the Outpatient Department/Wound Care Center was made possible with the use of these two novel products.