Outpatient intravenous antimicrobial therapy for the practicing orthopaedic surgeon.

The medical treatment of many musculoskeletal infections requires prolonged intravenous antimicrobial therapy, much of which is administered outside the hospital under the guidance of an infectious disease specialist. The essential elements of patient selection, antimicrobial administration, and clinical and laboratory monitoring of outpatient intravenous antimicrobial therapy for adult patients with musculoskeletal infection is described in the current study. Orthopaedists who treat patients with musculoskeletal infection should know the essential details of outpatient intravenous antimicrobial therapy to optimize the medical and surgical treatment of patients with these infections.