Critical care medicine
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Critical care medicine · Dec 2015
Multicenter Study Observational StudyA Multicenter Evaluation of Prolonged Empiric Antibiotic Therapy in Adult ICUs in the United States.
The purpose of this study is to determine the rate of prolonged empiric antibiotic therapy in adult ICUs in the United States. Our secondary objective is to examine the relationship between the prolonged empiric antibiotic therapy rate and certain ICU characteristics. ⋯ Half of all empiric antibiotics ordered in critically ill patients are continued for at least 72 hours in absence of adjudicated infection. Additional studies are needed to confirm these findings and determine the risks and benefits of prolonged empiric therapy in the critically ill.