Explanation: All the antibiotics have some activity but many clinicians advocate for >80% activity and ideally 90% or ⬆️ for severe infections. Ampicillin and cefazolin are both below this cutoff leaving us to pick between ceftriaxone and meropenem ⚖️

Both have reliable activity against E. coli and can treat the infection BUT meropenem has additional Gram negative coverage. We don’t need to cover things like Pseudomonas spp so we should AVOID unnecessarily broad spectrum 🚫

Once susceptibility results are back, an antibiogram is no longer needed. We CAN & SHOULD de-escalate to the most narrow spectrum appropriate antibiotic 🤏💊

Antibiograms are invaluable tools to guide empiric antibiotic selection 💊 Check out your local antibiogram and perfect your pick!