Infection Management and Multidrug-Resistant Organisms in Nursing Home Residents With Advanced Dementia

Antimicrobials are prescribed for most suspected infections in advanced dementia but often in the absence of minimum clinical criteria to support their use. Colonization with MDROs is extensive in nursing homes and is associated with exposure to quinolones and third- and fourth-generation cephalosporins. A more judicious approach to infection management may reduce unnecessary treatment in these frail patients, who most often have comfort as their primary goal of care, and the public health threat of MDRO emergence.