Literature Review. In The Field Of Neonatology, Researchers

Literature Review In the field of neonatology, researchers need to come to a consensus regarding the management of neonates given antimicrobial agents. According to Soll Edwards, physicians initiate most antibiotics for suspected infection of early onset sepsis rather than proven infection, leading to overuse of medications (2015). Antibiotics are begun empirically based on risk factors such as maternal signs and symptoms (Soll Edwards, 2015), even when the overall effects are more concerning considering the likelihood of an infection is small (Higgins et al., 2016). Schulman et al. (2015) Puopolo et al. (2011) believe that extra doses of antibiotics increase the patients’ cost and length of hospitalization in addition to†¦show more content†¦As a result, there is a need to study variation in thresholds for starting and stopping antibiotics and also emphasize the importance of only using potential harmful therapy when there is a clear benefit (Soll Edwards, 2015). Antimicrobial resistance. Overtime, microbes adapt to certain drugs causing them to mutate and resist drugs that would otherwise kill them or limit their growth (CDC, 2017). This resistance makes it harder for the body to fight infection since the existing drugs are less effective. Antimicrobial resistance affects over two million people in the US every year and of these two million, more than 23,000 die as a result (Michaelidis et al., 2016). Seemingly, the number one cause of antibiotic resistance is use of antibiotics, followed by the spread of resistant strains (CDC, 2017). The CDC also claims that resistant organisms require more costly and toxic alternatives and therefore, doctors should only prescribe antibiotics in appropriate durations when needed (2017). Colgan Powers (2001) adds that appropriate prescribing of antibiotics may slow the rate of resistance. Unfortunately, physicians do not optimally prescribe antibiotics about half of the time (CDC, 2017), so antimicro bial resistance continues to be a growing issue in the field of medicine. Average length of stay and cost of hospitalization.