Rapid diagnostics support antimicrobial stewardship by enabling which actions?

• A. Discontinuation of antimicrobials
• B. De-escalation of antimicrobials
• C. Both discontinuation and de-escalation
• D. Initiation of broad-spectrum therapy

Answer: (C)

Rapid diagnostics give you fast, accurate information about which organism is causing infection and what it’s susceptible to. That timely data lets clinicians stop antimicrobials when they’re not needed and switch from broad-spectrum agents to targeted, narrower ones once susceptibilities are known. Both discontinuation and de-escalation are enabled because stewardship aims to minimize unnecessary exposure and resistance risk by using the most appropriate therapy for the shortest effective duration. Initiating broad-spectrum therapy isn’t a feature enabled by rapid diagnostics; those tests help reduce reliance on broad-spectrum choices by guiding more precise therapy earlier.