Remember that Lack of Positive Blood Cultures does not Rule Out Bacterial Endocarditis Harjot K. Singh MD Aruna K. Subramanian MD Infective endocarditis (IE) is generally defined by vegetative cardiac…
Know How to Calculate the Clinical Pulmonary Infection Score B. Robert Gibson MD Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) refers to pneumonia that occurs more than 48 hours after patients are intubated and…
Remember that Enterococcus is a Rare Invasive Pulmonary Tract Infection Aruna K. Subramanian MD Enterococci rarely cause lower respiratory tract infections, though they are capable of colonizing the oropharynx. Respiratory…
Administer an Antibiotic Before Urinary Tract Obstruction is Relieved Jennifer Miles-Thomas MD Bacteriuria can become bacteremia with associated systemic complications in the setting of urinary tract obstruction. Most bacteria enter…
Administer a Dose of Antibiotic Before the Bile System is Instrumented or Manipulated Kelly Olino MD Bile ducts are normally sterile. However, in cases where the ducts become obstructed or…
Do Not Use Caspofungin or Voriconazole to Treat Yeast in the Urine Because a Very Small Amount of These Drugs are Excreted in the Urine Harjot K. Singh MD Lesia…
Have a High Threshold for Using Caspofungin and Voriconazole in Patients with Liver Disease Leo Hsiao DO Caspofungin is a member of a class of antifungals known as echinocandins. This…
Be Alert for Thrombocytopenia and Neutropenia with Linezolid Shaytone Nichols MD Linezolid is an antibiotic in the class oxazolidinones and it is effective against all Gram-positive infections. It is usually…
Treat Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus with a Minimum of 14 days of Antibiotics Iosifina Giannakikou MD There are approximately 2 million nosocomial infections in the United States each year. About 30%…
Consider Prophylactic Antibiotics when Leeches are Applied to Free Flaps Benjamin A. Mandel MD The use of leeches for medicinal purposes dates back at least 2,000 years. This practice peaked…
