Infection in surgical patients: effects on mortality, hospitalization, and postdischarge care.

In-hospital mortality, length of stay (LOS), and level of postdischarge care in infected and noninfected surgical patients were studied. An analysis was conducted of a database that included diagnostic, procedure, and drug data collected when surgical patients were discharged from the hospital. Hospitals consisted of 90 nongovernment, nonspecialty, teaching, and nonteaching acute care hospitals of more than 100 beds.

Assessing cost effectiveness of antimicrobial treatment: monotherapy compared with combination therapy.

The obvious costs of antibiotic treatment include drugs, equipment with which to give them, and assays. Less obvious, but more important, are the costs of quality control to ensure safe and effective treatment. The more complex the regimen, the more expensive the quality control.

Cost of gentamicin assays carried out by microbiology laboratories.

Aims: To assess the current range of prices charged for gentamicin assays in United Kingdom laboratories; and to examine the laboratories' likely response to increases or decreases in the demand for the service.

Methods: A postal survey of the 420 members of the Association of Medical Microbiologists was used to establish the range of prices charged for aminoglycoside assays. Additionally, eight private institutions were contacted to determine what the private sector was charging for aminoglycoside assays.