Table 4 Selected quotes surrounding participants experiences and expectations of de-escalating/stopping antibiotics
Expectations around stopping/de-escalating therapy | ||
|---|---|---|
1 | “We are responsible for everything on the ward as well as all the decisions and I think we’ve got these practices in place which make sure that the antibiotics are stopped at a particular time when they needed to be stopped” | Consultant, haematology |
2 | “I’m complete disempowered [to stop antibiotics], completely because they’re so complicated and the consultants who know their patients have their own ways of prescribing. It’s very unusual that anyone would actually explain to you what they’re thinking. I think I’ve had one explanation which was like a ray of sunshine” | On-rotation, renal |
3 | “In terms of stopping antibiotics yeah, I think stopping antibiotics is a very nebulous thing in itself… it is pretty random and is not really a huge amount of evidence out there.... I feel very happy with making decisions as to whether to stop after three times, seven, ten days whatever. I don’t think that’s a big issue” | Consultant, general medicine |
4 | “So I feel quite, I wouldn’t say disempowered, but I feel like the seniors make most of the decisions. So I’m quite reluctant to make any decisions about [de-escalating] antibiotics” | On-rotation, gastroenterology |
5 | “Stopping them is generally, from my experience, has been a senior’s [decision]” | On-rotation, acute medicine 1 |
6 | “De-escalating can be a little bit more tricky, it’s very much individually based. [For] some people it’s easier but if there’s no plan in place, if someone hasn’t said for five days, go for IVs and then deescalate to PO I would be hesitant. I would tend to want to get a little bit of reassurance” | On-rotation, acute medicine 2 |