Understanding the Prevalence of Skin and Soft Tissue Infections

Michael D. Nailor, PharmD, BCPS-AQ ID, clinical associate professor at the University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy, clinical specialist in infectious diseases at Hartford Hospital, and director of Infectious Disease Residency program at Hartford Hospital, explains why it’s important to understand the prevalence of skin and soft tissue infections.

Interview Transcript (slightly modified for readability)

“One of the things that we’re doing now in infectious diseases is talking about stewardship, [which] really is about treating the big problems, the things that occur the most frequently right all the time. So, instead of looking at the various diagnostic dilemmas, we’re really trying to look at what things affect most patients, so that we can give most antibiotics correctly. Skin infections very much fall into that category, where there are high frequency events. Understanding the prevalence and understanding what happens to these patients allows us to direct our resources to best treat the patients to get the best outcomes both clinically as well as economically.”