Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

742

Date

2012

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Public Health

Major

Public Health

Concentration

Epidemiology

Committee Chair

Vikki Nolan

Committee Member

Fawaz Mzayek

Committee Member

George Relyea

Abstract

A window of one hour or less from start of signs and symptoms of infection to antibiotic administration (AWT) is considered good clinical practice in developed countries, but less feasible in resource poor countries. This study aimed to identify predictors of AWT and studied its association with hospital length of stay (LOS) and intensive care unit (ICU) admission. A survey of healthcare providers assessed quality of care associated with the institutional capacity and response. AWT averaged four days with patient status being the only predictor upon multivariate analysis. For predictors associated with outcomes, parental education and patient status were associated with LOS and absolute neutrophil count (ANC) and AWT were found to be significant predictors for ICU- admission. Only 59% of nurses recognized fever as an onologic emergency and perception of antibiotic availability varied among nurses, physicians and pharmacists. Modification of predictors may reduce AWT assuring better outcome and survival.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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