The Confluence of New Antibiotics, Treatment Guidelines, and Antimicrobial Stewardship in SSTIs

EP: 1.Considering Criteria for Admission for Skin and Soft Tissue Infections

EP: 2.Broaching the Subject of Antibiotic Allergy Challenges with Patients

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EP: 3.The Confluence of New Antibiotics, Treatment Guidelines, and Antimicrobial Stewardship in SSTIs

EP: 4.Clinician Perspective on the Latest SSTI Antibiotics

The last time the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) updated its treatment guidelines for skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) was back in 2014. In that time there has been the addition of new therapies for these infections, and thus in some instances, leaving outdated guidelines for clinicians.

Bruce M. Jones, PharmD, FIDSA, BCPS, infectious diseases clinical pharmacy specialist at St. Joseph's/Candler Health System in Savannah, GA, says the importance of following the IDSA guidelines combined with the addition of the newer antibiotics can be challenging. In fact, he says clinicians have more novel options for treatment with both oral and IV modalities for SSTIs. “There’s a lot that’s changed and a lot of new agents have come to the market.”

Jones says you are not going to give every patient with an SSTI one of the newer therapies, but he says it’s about looking at having the criteria of how to pick the right patients to decipher who might be appropriate for which antibiotic.

And in the background is stewardship and how this can be applied with this confluence of therapies and the guidelines.

Contagion is running a short series of video interviews to discuss SSTIs, and Jones sat down in a far-ranging interview to discuss criteria and decisions around whether SSTIs should be treated as inpatient or outpatient, what his institution is experiencing, and his perspective on the therapy pipeline.

In this episode, Jones discusses the evolving treatment landscape for SSTIs, the IDSA guidelines, and the ability to consider stewardship opportunities when treating these patients.