Antibiotic Use with Open or Necrotic Wounds

Systemic antibiotics are indicated for any MWD with moderate or severe wounds.

Cultures should be collected if obvious infection develops during any phase of wound management, if the wound fails to heal normally, or if systemic signs of infection develop.

It is not recommended to culture fresh bite wounds, burns or trauma within 24 hours of the occurrence, as the cultures cannot predict whether microbes identified from these fresh wounds will cause infection. Wound cultures are indicated at admission only if the patient presents with an infected wound.

Continue antibiotics for a minimum of 7 days. See Table 3 for empirical antibiotic selection options for MWDs. If culture and sensitivity results are available, determine antibiotic therapy accordingly.

Table 3 Antibiotic selection and dosing for MWDs.