Guidelines for antibiotic usage in hospitals

Abstract

In this issue of the Journal van de Beek et al.¹ describe a prospective audit of compliance with national guidelines for the empirical therapy of adult patients with bacterial meningitis in The Netherlands. The consensus-based guidelines were developed by a multidisciplinary group of experts in bacterial meningitis. Patients were assigned to one of four categories: age 16–60 years, no risk factors; age >60 years, no risk factors; age >16 years with risk factors; age >16 years, recent neurosurgery. An antibiotic regimen was recommended for patients in each of the categories. The guidelines were disseminated in booklet form and the audit was begun 1 year after they were issued.