Antibiotic Kinetics in the Febrile Multiple System Trauma Patient

In no place throughout clinical medicine is the role of antibiotics more important than in the severely injured patient. Judicious and appropriate antibiotics are important for preventive indications when the traumatized patient requires a surgical procedure. Specific antibiotic therapy is necessary when infectious complications occur at the site of injury. Nosocomial infections occur at numerous locations during critical care management and during the prolonged convalescence of these patients and require antimicrobial chemotherapy. In the patient with an injury-severity score >30, antibiotics are employed frequently during the hospitalization and the emergence of resistant and unusual pathogens make the appropriate management of the infectious complications in these patients a formidable challenge.