{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,10]],"date-time":"2026-08-10T17:52:57Z","timestamp":1786384377158,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,1]],"date-time":"2026-02-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1769904000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Antibiotics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Cutaneous wounds are common in outpatient care, but national patterns of who manages them and how antimicrobials are used remain unclear. Objectives: To characterize outpatient specialty involvement and antimicrobial use for acute and chronic cutaneous wound visits in the United States. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cross-sectional analysis of 2011\u20132019 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) data. Cutaneous wound visits were identified using prespecified ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM codes and classified as acute (open or traumatic wounds and burns) or chronic (pressure injuries and lower-limb ulcers). Survey weights were applied to estimate national visit volumes, specialty shares, and antimicrobial utilization patterns. Results: We identified 45.1 million cutaneous wound visits, representing 0.8% of all outpatient visits, of which about two thirds were acute and one third chronic. Primary care physicians accounted for the largest share of wound visits, while dermatologists managed 3.9% of overall wound visits, 2.4% of acute visits, and 7.4% of chronic visits. Among 156.6 million medications recorded at wound visits, antimicrobials represented 13.1% overall, 14.9% in acute visits, and 10.2% in chronic visits. Cephalexin accounted for 32.1% of antimicrobial medications overall and 39.2% in acute visits, whereas chronic wound visits had a more heterogeneous antimicrobial profile that included topical mupirocin, cephalexin, trimethoprim\u2013sulfamethoxazole, and topical nystatin. Conclusions: Outpatient cutaneous wound care in the United States is delivered predominantly by primary care clinicians and relies heavily on a small set of systemic and topical antimicrobials, highlighting opportunities to strengthen antimicrobial stewardship and expand dermatology\u2019s role in chronic wound management.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/antibiotics15020142","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,2]],"date-time":"2026-02-02T09:00:33Z","timestamp":1770022833000},"page":"142","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Outpatient Cutaneous Wound Care in the United States: Specialty Distribution and Antimicrobial Prescribing Patterns"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5321-0584","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ayman","family":"Grada","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1104-4573","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rithi John","family":"Chandy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Dermatology Research, Department of Dermatology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27104, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jiwon","family":"Park","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Long School of Medicine, UT Health San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0090-6289","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Steven R.","family":"Feldman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Dermatology Research, Department of Dermatology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27104, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"50","DOI":"10.1038\/s41572-022-00377-3","article-title":"Chronic wounds","volume":"8","author":"Falanga","year":"2022","journal-title":"Nat. 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