Grant: Project Grant

Bloodstream infections are one of the top seven causes of death. Unfortunately, sometimes the antibiotics used to kill the bacteria that cause these bloodstream infections do not work. It's important that studies called clinical trials are used to find new ways to treat these bloodstream infections. The BALANCE+ trial is trying to understand the best way to treat patients with bloodstream infections while they are in the intensive care unit or the hospital. The people who designed the BALANCE+ trial think it's important to know the following about patients who took part in the BALANCE+ trial: 1) how many patients survived their bloodstream infection after leaving a hospital, 2) how many patients get another infection, and 3) how many patients are readmitted to the hospital. These are called trial outcomes. We want to hear from patients and their families who took part in the BALANCE+ trial about their thoughts on these trial outcomes. We will ask them to share their opinions on the trial outcomes and if there are any other outcomes that would be important to them. We will also send out a survey to patients and families who took part in the BALANCE+ trial to rank outcomes. The outcomes they rank will include the BALANCE+ trial outcomes and patient and family identified outcomes. The last step of this research will be to meet with patients, families, and the people who designed the BALANCE+ trial to agree on a list of patient and family important outcomes (from most important to least important). We will also talk about the best way to share our findings so other people can use it to design new trials. This research may add other outcomes to the BALANCE+ trial. It will also help us better understand the impact of treatments and improve care for patients with bloodstream infections.