Before You Choose Antibiotics for a Child or Adolescent

Antibiotic selection can be complicated. In this episode, we discuss how you should approach choosing the appropriate antibiotic for your pediatric patient. There are multiple considerations, including: What organisms do you want to treat? What does anatomy have to do with antibiotic selection? You also have to think about individual circumstances, such as immunzation status, chronic disease, drug allergies, and environmental exposures. Know what organisms you want to treat Because we often treat empirically, we need to know organisms that typically case this typical infection Narrow-spectrum antibiotics if possible Anatomy of the infection For fever in first 4-6 weeks, think about organisms that infant was exposed to during pregnancy and delivery For respiratory infections, think about organisms that live in the respiratory tract Abnormal anatomy Immunization status of child may change your differential diagnosis Drug allergies Look in medical record and ask patient and family about allergies Consider cross-reactivity of antibiotics Geographic location: resistance patterns Individual circumstances Chronic diseases Environmental exposures   Resources/Links: Up to date: uptodate.com   American Academy of Pediatrics Red Book: https://publications.aap.org/redbook?autologincheck=redirected  Sanford Guide to Antimicrobial therapy: https://www.sanfordguide.com/products/print-guides/?gad=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwtuOlBhBREiwA7agf1oWtsyBrx0OFaHxpG2ZpDTXYukd1JGs5R_ZpRWrECT_v0bqhboN15hoCijIQAvD_BwE American Academy of Pediatrics clinical practice guideline: The Diagnosis and Management of Acute Otitis Media. 2013. https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/131/3/e964/30912/The-Diagnosis-and-Management-of-Acute-Otitis-Media  

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