Once-daily ceftriaxone outpatient therapy in adults with infections.

Since 1981 our physicians' office has developed an outpatient parenteral antibiotic therapy programme which has shown advantages in patient care and provided significant cost savings. While we were able to provide any parenteral antibiotic available, the mainstay of our programme was ceftriaxone because of its broad range of activity, safety, and once-daily administration. Two hundred and ninety cases of outpatient ceftriaxone usage were recorded between January 1989 and March 1990. Ceftriaxone was found to be most useful for bone, soft tissue, and gynaecological infections. Not only was it highly clinically successful, but it was safe to use in the twice-weekly monitoring parameters we routinely perform in our office. The use of ceftriaxone alone during the 15-month period accounted for savings of over US $1.2 million compared to the cost of hospitalization during this period.