What is it about?
Nosocomial infections are frequent in palliative care leading to high antibiotic use and cost. We analised the factors affecting the cost of used antibiotics in palliative care unit.
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Why is it important?
Most of the patients are treated with antibiotics until their death and treatment may do more harm than good as far as increasing resistance and antibiotic cost leading to increased length of stay. We observed in our study that; length of stay, male sex, presence of decubitus ulcers, tracheostomy, enteral and parenteral nutrition significantly increased antibiotic cost. Antibiotic cost and mortality were not related statistically. So at the end we defined a vicious circle in palliative care involves following order: length of stay, increased rate of infection, use of antibiotics, infection with resistant microorganisms, use of broad spectrum antibiotics, increased length of stay; all affecting eachother.
Perspectives
Antibiotic use should be for symptom relief more than being therapeutic, earliest possible discharge of patient should be provided, homecare of the patients should be encouraged. I hope this article leads to future studies in developing a consensus for structured guidelines about antibiotic use in palliative care.
Ozgur Dagli
University of Health Sciences Turkey
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Palliative care infections and antibiotic cost: a vicious circle, The Aging Male, March 2019, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/13685538.2019.1575353.
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