The following table was originally created by Dr. Kerkar, Dr. Mdluli, and Kyna Ngo, PharmD for use at DRMC as guidelines for the entire hospital. I have made a few additions to it from well-respected texts.

 

Disease State

Duration

Comments

Kidneys, bladder, urethra
(Renal System)
Uncomplicated UTI 5 days
Complicated UTI and UTI in Males 7 days
Catheter-associated UTI 7 days
Pyelonephritis 14 days
Lungs

(Lower Resp Infections)

 

COPD 5 days
CAP

Caused by atypical organisms

Legionella

5 days

10 days

14 days

HCAP/VAP

Pseudomonas or Acinetobacter

8 days

14 days

MSSA/MRSA PNA 14 days
URI Group A strep pharyngitis 10 days
Soft Tissue and Bone Infections Uncomplicated cellulitis 5 days
Purulent cellulitis 10 days
Osteomyelitis 4-6 Weeks “Because it takes 4-6 weeks for the bone to remodel and form new bone with new blood vessels.”  Per Dr. Gerardo Martin
Abdomen   Complicated intra-abdominal infection 7 days*

*Unless difficult to achieve adequate source control

C. difficile 14 days
  • This table of antibiotic durations based on diagnosis has been compiled using information from guidelines and clinical studies
  • Please use this as a reference when adding stop dates/duration of therapy for antibiotics
  • If there is no stop date/duration of therapy indicated in the progress notes, the antibiotic will be “hard stopped” using this table
    • When a drug is set to “hard stop,” a notification will appear in the inbox of the prescribing physician asking if they would like to continue or discontinue the antibiotic
  • If clinically warranted, antibiotic administration may be extended beyond the guideline-directed duration

 

Bacteremia
-“The duration of antibiotic therapy depends on the etiology of infection. In general, patients with bacteremia with a removable source of infection may be treated with 14 days of intravenous therapy from the first negative blood culture.

 

Urinary system infections

3 > 5 > 7 > 14 days

Urethra > Bladder > Kidneys > Blood (sepsis 2/2 to urinary tract infection)

*Note, every UTI in a male is complicated.

 

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