Improving antibiotic administration efficiency and patient outcomes in the emergency

Guidelines recommend antibiotics be administered within one hour of severe sepsis onset [1]. As reported previously in this Journal, computerized physician order entry (CPOE) improved antibiotic administration time in septic patients in the emergency department (ED), with no effect on survival [2]. Automatic dispensing cabinets (ADC) have also demonstrated improved administration times, but patient outcomes have not been evaluated when the strategies are combined [3]. Despite evidence supporting early intravenous antibiotics (IVA), a recent national survey demonstrated that not all hospital ED ’s routinely stock IVA, depending on drug shortages, and the ability to stock refrigerated admixed IVA when premixes are not available.
Source: The American Journal of Emergency Medicine - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Source Type: research