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The patient needs to be on antibiotics so the infection does not advance into urosepsis if he is not at that point already. The only thing I can think f is that maybe he wanted to wait until he saw the patient on rounds so he could assess the patient and also check on sensitivities if they were done..but in the meantime I agree he needed some antibiotics! Did you have a WBC ct and di you tell him about the pt's symptoms?
Ugh, how frustrating.
Have you heard of the SBAR format for communicating with others about the condition of the patient?
S=Situation
B=Background
A=Assessment
R=Recommendation
Following this format, you would have told the doctor something like "Mr. Smith is a ____yo admitted for lung AVM. He developed a temperature of 38.7 and cultures were sent. The UA is positive for many bacteria, WBCs, nitrates, etc. My assessment is that Mr. Smith has a UTI, and I'd recommend starting him on antibiotics. Would you like to order antibiotics?"
Then the doctor can say yes or no, and hopefully if he/she says no, they'll include a rationale.
Bec7074
117 Posts
So today I cared for a gentleman who became febrile at 38.7. I called the doc and pan cultured him as ordered, including a UA. The patient was not on antibiotics and was admitted for a lung AVM. The UA came back positive for Many bacteria, WBC, nitrates, etc. Since I work nights, I knew the doc wouldn't be looking for it. I called him (he's awake and in house) to let him know it was positive. However he never started the patient on antibiotics and acted like he didn't know why I was calling. I don't understand why the patient doesn't receive broad spectrum antibiotics. Any thoughts? I was just wanting to do what's best for the patient and get this UTI under control and reduce his length of stay. The only thing I can think of was it was a busy night on our ICU and they were admitting a gunshot wound down the hall. Any insight?!