The following table was originally created by Dr. Kerkar, Dr. Mdluli, and Kyna Ngo, PharmD for use at DRMC as guidelines for the entire hospital. I have made a few additions to it from well-respected texts.
Disease State |
Duration |
Comments |
|
| Kidneys, bladder, urethra (Renal System) |
Uncomplicated UTI | 5 days | |
| Complicated UTI and UTI in Males | 7 days | ||
| Catheter-associated UTI | 7 days | ||
| Pyelonephritis | 14 days | ||
| Lungs
(Lower Resp Infections)
|
COPD | 5 days | |
| CAP
Caused by atypical organisms Legionella |
5 days
10 days 14 days |
||
| HCAP/VAP
Pseudomonas or Acinetobacter |
8 days
14 days |
||
| MSSA/MRSA PNA | 14 days | ||
| URI | Group A strep pharyngitis | 10 days | |
| Soft Tissue and Bone Infections | Uncomplicated cellulitis | 5 days | |
| Purulent cellulitis | 10 days | ||
| Osteomyelitis | 4-6 Weeks | “Because it takes 4-6 weeks for the bone to remodel and form new bone with new blood vessels.” Per Dr. Gerardo Martin | |
| Abdomen | Complicated intra-abdominal infection | 7 days*
*Unless difficult to achieve adequate source control |
|
| C. difficile | 14 days | ||
- This table of antibiotic durations based on diagnosis has been compiled using information from guidelines and clinical studies
- Please use this as a reference when adding stop dates/duration of therapy for antibiotics
- If there is no stop date/duration of therapy indicated in the progress notes, the antibiotic will be “hard stopped” using this table
- When a drug is set to “hard stop,” a notification will appear in the inbox of the prescribing physician asking if they would like to continue or discontinue the antibiotic
- If clinically warranted, antibiotic administration may be extended beyond the guideline-directed duration
Bacteremia
-“The duration of antibiotic therapy depends on the etiology of infection. In general, patients with bacteremia with a removable source of infection may be treated with 14 days of intravenous therapy from the first negative blood culture.”
Urinary system infections
3 > 5 > 7 > 14 days
Urethra > Bladder > Kidneys > Blood (sepsis 2/2 to urinary tract infection)
*Note, every UTI in a male is complicated.