Audit of an antibiotic policy and microbiological investigations for treating bacteraemia in a large teaching hospital.

A. R. Mackenzie, L. Robertson, B. Jappy, R. B. Laing, Ian M Gould

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    13 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    An audit of different approaches to guide empirical therapy in 78 cases of bacteraemia revealed poor utilisation of the antibiotic policy with resulting inadequate (P = 0.005) or excessive (P < 0.00001) antibiotic treatment and a trend to increased mortality. Eighty-seven percent of blood cultures were positive on Gram-stain within 24 h but streamlined therapy was still judged excessive in 27%. The results show poor utilisation of an up-to-date antibiotic policy but confirm its potential benefits and the ability of traditional culture methods to guide antibiotic therapy in a useful time-scale. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. and the International Society of Chemotherapy. All rights reserved.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)618-621
    Number of pages3
    JournalInternational Journal of Antimicrobial Agents
    Volume22
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2003

    Keywords

    • antibiotic policy
    • bacteraemia
    • microbiological investigations
    • quality indicators
    • POSITIVE BLOOD CULTURES
    • CLINICAL IMPACT
    • IDENTIFICATION
    • RESISTANCE

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