Observing Patients after Antibiotics Are Discontinued

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Abstract
Of the more than 40 million patients hospitalized in the United States yearly, approximately 2 million acquire nosocomial infections.1 Patients with infections frequently remain in the hospital to complete courses of antibiotic therapy lasting 7 to 14 days. The length of antibiotic therapy varies and is based on criteria that are more subjective than objective. Standard medical references allow one enormous leeway in deciding the length of therapy for many infections. For example, Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine suggests that a complicated urinary tract infection should be treated with antibiotics for 7 to 21 days.2 The chapter on pneumonia gives vague recommendations on the length of therapy.3 Even a perforated appendix may be treated with anywhere from 1 to 10 days of antibiotic therapy.4

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