Time to effective treatment is critical for patients with high risk of mortality and drug-resistant infection1,2

In patients with Gram-negative infections who are given timely appropriate therapy, the risk of mortality can be reduced by 65% (OR, 0.35 [95% CI, 0.22, 0.56])3,4*

Factors to consider when a decision must be made based on limited pathogen information5,6:

PATIENT CONDITION

  • Clinical status (Ie, likelihood to decline)
  • Type of infection (eg., HABP/VABP, cUTI, etc.)
  • Patient comorbidities
  • Length of hospitalization

RISK OF RESISTANCE

  • Prior infections
  • Previous antibiotic treatments
  • Institutional antibiogram
  • Repeated admissions from long-term acute care

When patient status and treatment history indicate a high risk of mortality and drug-resistant infection, consider initiating an antibiotic with broad CR-pathogen coverage, then de-escalating if indicated by susceptibility results

Consider initiating an antibiotic with broad CR-pathogen coverage,
then de-escalating if indicated by susceptibility results
*
Meta-analysis of 5 international studies assessed the impact of delay or no delay in appropriate antibiotic therapy for hospitalized adult patients with severe Gram-negative bacterial infections. ORs for each study, based on the number of events and sample size for each outcome, were calculated using a random effects model.3,4
CI=confidence interval; OR=odds ratio.