Don’t forget to reassess the need for antibiotic therapy within 3 days of starting antibiotics to check antibiotic sensitivity results and that the resident is improving. 

Urine culture results should be reviewed and antibiotic therapy adjusted according to culture results and sensitivity testing. Antibiotic therapy should be stopped if the result of the urine culture collected before antibiotics is negative. An alternate diagnosis should be considered for residents without improvement despite 3 days of effective therapy. Don’t repeat urine culture (test of cure) for residents who have improved or completed their treatment course.

Using Antibiotics Wisely in Long-Term Care