Management of patients with infectious diseases in an emergency department observation unit

Emergency physicians frequently are forced to initiate empiric antibiotics without benefit of Gram's stain, culture, or sensitivity results. Compared with other specialties, the opportunity for learning from patient follow-up is limited. Emergency physicians therefore must be up to date on the pertinent infectious diseases (ID) literature and the specific epidemiology and susceptibility patterns in their own individual practice settings. This article focuses on three common causes of hospitalization for IDs; pneumonia, cellulitis, and pyelonephritis.