Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/xGAirF0H81Y Two-thirds of patients hospitalized for treatment of pneumonia are receiving excess antibiotic therapy that puts them at risk for undesirable side effects and complications.   This finding is the conclusion of a study by the University of Michigan and the Michigan Hospital Consortium. The investigators reviewed the records of some 6500 pneumonia patients admitted to Michigan Hospitals.  Over 90% of the excess antibiotic therapy was due to extra antibiotics prescribed at discharge.  The clinicians prescribing discharge medications failed to properly account for in-hospital days of antibiotic therapy. Typical therapy for community acquired pneumonia is a minimum of 5 days and therapy is continued until you are free of fever for 3 days.  Complicated infections may require 10-14 days of therapy. Unnecessary antibiotic therapy places patients at risk for developing antibiotic resistance, the outgrowth of so-called opportunistic bacteria such as Clostridium difficile, better k