Demographic Characteristics, Clinical Aspects, Management, and Treatment of Skin Infections*
| Preintervention Group N = 216 N (%) | Postintervention Group N = 118 N (%) | P Value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Demographic characteristics | |||
| Age (years) | |||
| <20 | 44 (21) | 28 (24) | 0.34 |
| 20 to 39 | 54 (25) | 35 (30) | |
| 40 to 64 | 74 (34) | 39 (33) | |
| ≥65 | 43 (20) | 15 (13) | |
| Male | 108 (50) | 50 (42) | 0.18 |
| Caucasian | 161 (95) | 111 (94) | 0.65 |
| Hispanic | 10 (6) | 5 (4) | 0.53 |
| Insurance coverage | |||
| Private | 122 (57) | 78 (70) | 0.03 |
| Medicaid | 36 (17) | 20 (18) | |
| Medicare | 40 (19) | 12 (11) | |
| Uninsured | 15 (7) | 2 (2) | |
| Lives rural county | 60 (28) | 34 (29) | 0.80 |
| Patient presenting characteristics | |||
| Site of infection | |||
| Face/neck | 26 (12) | 15 (14) | 0.73 |
| Groin/pubic/lower extremities | 102 (48) | 48 (43) | |
| Thorax/upper extremities | 85 (40) | 48 (43) | |
| Initial temperature (°F) | |||
| <99° | 170 (90) | 104 (90) | 0.99 |
| ≥99° | 18 (10) | 11 (10) | |
| Duration of infection prior to being seen | |||
| <5 days | 101 (55) | 61 (56) | 0.94 |
| ≥5 days | 81 (45) | 48 (44) | |
| Has ≥1 MRSA risk factor | 85 (39) | 54 (46) | 0.26 |
| Hospitalized with infection | 10 (5) | 3 (3) | 0.36 |
| Diabetic wound type | 32 (15) | 20 (17) | 0.61 |
| Abscess only | 74 (34) | 18 (15) | <0.0001 |
| Cellulitis only | 119 (55) | 69 (58) | |
| Abscess and cellulitis | 23 (11) | 25 (21) | |
| Management and treatment | |||
| Incision and drainage done | 68 (32) | 33 (28) | 0.50 |
| Culture done | 79 (37) | 52 (44) | 0.18 |
| MRSA cultured (of those cultured) only for those who had an incision and drainage done | 40 (51) | 16 (31) | 0.03 |
| Wound packed | 28 (41) | 8 (24) | 0.10 |
| Verbal wound care instructions provided (n = 65 preintervention and n = 110 post intervention) | 56 (86) | 88 (80) | 0.30 |
| Follow-up visit scheduled | 110 (51) | 70 (61) | 0.08 |
| Antibiotics prescribed | |||
| Antibiotic prescribed at initial visit | 201 (93) | 115 (98) | 0.09 |
| Antibiotic(s) prescribed at initial visit | |||
| covered MRSA | 60 (30) | 60 (52) | <0.0001 |
| Second antibiotic was prescribed with first | 17 (8) | 17 (14) | 0.06 |
| Antibiotics prescribed that covered MRSA at some time during infection | 75 (37) | 72 (62) | <0.0001 |
| Total number of antibiotics used over the course of the infection | |||
| ≤2 | 197 (91) | 106 (90) | 0.68 |
| >2 | 19 (9) | 12 (10) | |
| Total number of different antibiotics used over course of infection | |||
| 0 | 14 (6) | 1 (1) | 0.14 |
| 1 | 145 (67) | 79 (67) | |
| 2 | 38 (18) | 26 (22) | |
| 3 | 14 (6) | 10 (8) | |
| 4 | 3 (1) | 1 (1) | |
| 5 | 2 (1) | 0 | |
| 6 | 0 | 1 (1) | |
| Cephalosporins | 52 (18) | 20 (12) | <0.0001 |
| Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole | 40 (14) | 50 (29) | 0.006 |
↵* If a cell does not total the N, then there were missing data.
MRSA, Staphylococcus aureus