Background: To gain a better understanding of clinical practice for the treatment of common drug-resistant infections.
Methods: A web-based anonymous survey was developed to gain a better understanding of clinical practice of patients infected with drug-resistant bloodstream infections (BSI). The survey instrument was a questionnaire requesting doctors to provide their opinion on the most likely choice of an antibiotic, dose and route of administration for patients infected with a drug-resistant Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa or Enterococcus faecium.
Results: All of the survey participants (n = 28) were hospital-based doctors. Choice of therapy for drug-resistant E. coli and K. pneumoniae was uniform across survey participants. However, optimal treatment of ceftazidime-resistant P. aeruginosa and VRE was less clear.
Conclusion: The survey adds to the limited body of evidence in this clinical area and can be a useful tool for health economists in determining the additional cost of treating patients with drug-resistant infections.
Keywords: Australia; Drug-resistance; Health care surveys; Sepsis.
Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.