Volume 11, Number 10—October 2005
Research
Vancomycin and Home Health Care
Thomas G. Fraser*1, Valentina Stosor*, Qiong Wang†, Anne Allen‡, and Teresa R. Zembower*
Table 5
Microbiologic investigations and results for home infusions of vancomycin*
| Investigation or result | Use per guidelines, no. (%), N = 180 | Use outside guidelines, no. (%), N = 116 | p value† |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microbiologic diagnostic attempt | 173 (96.1) | 90 (77.6) | <0.001 |
| Cultures by site | |||
| Blood | 137 (76.1) | 74 (63.8) | 0.022 |
| Sterile site | 25 (13.9) | 11 (9.5) | 0.258 |
| Urine | 96 (53.3) | 48 (41.4) | 0.045 |
| Sputum | 17 (9.4) | 6 (5.2) | 0.180 |
| Wound | 96 (53.3) | 45 (38.8) | 0.015 |
| Other culture | 15 (8.3) | 11 (9.5) | 0.733 |
| >1 culture | 136 (75.6) | 65 (56.0) | <0.001 |
| Bacterial isolates | |||
| MRSA | 81 (45.0) | 2 (1.7)‡ | § |
| Coagulase-negative staphylococci | 59 (32.8) | 20 (17.2) | |
| Ampicillin-resistant enterococci | 3 (1.7) | 0 | |
| Methicillin-susceptible S. aureus | 16 (8.9) | 19 (16.4) | |
| Other streptococci and enterococci | 52 (28.9) | 18 (15.5) | |
| Corynebacterium jeikeium | 2 (1.1) | 0 | |
| Culture considered contaminated | 20 (11.1) | 20 (17.2) | |
*MRSA, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
†Values <0.05 were considered significant.
‡The 2 patients outside the guidelines with an MRSA culture included 1 patient with MRSA in the urine but no diagnosis of a urinary tract infection, and 1 with a positive intravascular catheter tip culture but no evidence of infection.
§A p value is not included because infection with these isolates was 1 factor used to determine whether vancomycin was given per guidelines.
1Current affiliation: Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Page created: February 22, 2012
Page updated: February 22, 2012
Page reviewed: February 22, 2012
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