Criteria used to calculate total costs of antibiotics prescribed and first-line antibiotics
| Criteria | Antibiotics* | IV or oral formulation† | Duration‡ | Total cost (£) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Prescribed | IV | Prescribed | 68 481.22 |
| 2 | Prescribed | Oral | Prescribed | 36 173.12 |
| 3 | First line | IV | Guideline | 26 528.59 |
| 4 | First line | Oral | Guideline | 14 395.76 |
| 5 | First line | IV | Prescribed | 37 717.78 |
| 6 | First line | Oral | Prescribed | 19 747.13 |
*Prescribed antibiotics describe antibiotics used by penicillin-allergic patients during the study period. First-line antibiotics are antibiotics that could have been used if the study patients had not been allergic to penicillin, according to trust and national guidelines.
†IV formulation describes the assumption that all antibiotics with intravenous and oral formulations were used as intravenously. Oral formulation describes the assumption that all antibiotics with intravenous and oral formulations were used as oral.
‡Prescribed duration describes the duration of individual antibiotics that were prescribed to penicillin-allergic patients during the study period. Guideline duration describes duration of first-line antibiotics according to trust and national guidelines, which should have been used if study patients had not been penicillin allergic.
IV, intravenous; total costs are given in Great Britain Pound Sterling (£).