Outpatient parenteral antibiotic therapy. Management of serious infections. Part I: Medical, socioeconomic, and legal issues. The team concept.

The delivery of outpatient parenteral antibiotic therapy is a team effort that, at minimum, requires a physician, a nurse, and a pharmacist. Other specialists may be added as needed. The team may be structured in several different ways, but two basic models emerge: physician-directed and nonphysician-directed. Whatever the structure, the physician should maintain a leadership role in the care of the patient.