{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,15]],"date-time":"2026-03-15T08:22:57Z","timestamp":1773562977136,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":26,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,30]],"date-time":"2024-08-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1724976000000},"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>Introduction: Febrile neutropenia (FN) is a potentially severe entity, particularly in hemato-oncologic patients who have higher incidence of colonization with multidrug-resistant bacteria. Discrepancies among guidelines contribute to divergence in antimicrobial practices. Our objective was to assess the variation of practices in antimicrobial therapy in high-risk FN among Portuguese hematologists. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study through the implementation of an online survey, open to all clinical hematologists in the country. To characterize practice patterns regarding critical elements in FN management, three clinical vignettes were designed to describe typical situations where narrow-spectrum empiric antibiotics (vignette 1), short-course therapy (vignette 2) and de-escalation (vignette 3) could be performed. The remaining questions characterized clinical experience, department size, and differentiation and decision-making process regarding FN antibiotic therapy. Results: The survey yielded 31 responses from 11 hospitals across four regions. All respondents opted for empiric narrow-spectrum antibiotics, 22.6% opted for short-course therapy (mostly senior specialists from larger settings) and 35.5% for de-escalation (mostly young specialists). Availability of an FN protocol seemed to favor both approaches. These findings should be complemented by qualitative assessments of barriers to best practices and should support the need for interventions to improve antibiotic use in febrile neutropenia.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/antibiotics13090822","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,30]],"date-time":"2024-08-30T09:39:32Z","timestamp":1725010772000},"page":"822","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Variation in Antibiotic Prescription in High-Risk Febrile Neutropenia in Portuguese Hospitals"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Marta","family":"Freitas","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto, Alameda Professor Hern\u00e2ni Monteiro, 4200-039 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Paulo","family":"Andrade","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unidade de Preven\u00e7\u00e3o e Controlo de Infe\u00e7\u00e3o e Resist\u00eancias aos Antimicrobianos, Centro de Epidemiologia Hospitalar, Unidade Local de Sa\u00fade S\u00e3o Jo\u00e3o, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"Servi\u00e7o de Doen\u00e7as Infecciosas, Unidade Local de Sa\u00fade S\u00e3o Jo\u00e3o, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Ricardo","family":"Pinto","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Servi\u00e7o de Hematologia Cl\u00ednica, Unidade Local de Sa\u00fade S\u00e3o Jo\u00e3o, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Fernanda","family":"Trigo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Servi\u00e7o de Hematologia Cl\u00ednica, Unidade Local de Sa\u00fade S\u00e3o Jo\u00e3o, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7368-9609","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ana","family":"Azevedo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto, Alameda Professor Hern\u00e2ni Monteiro, 4200-039 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"Centro de Epidemiologia Hospitalar, Unidade Local de Sa\u00fade S\u00e3o Jo\u00e3o, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"Laborat\u00f3rio Para a Investiga\u00e7\u00e3o Integrativa e Translacional em Sa\u00fade Populacional (ITR), EPIUnit, Instituto de Sa\u00fade P\u00fablica da Universidade do Porto, Universidade do Porto, 4050-600 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Francisco","family":"Almeida","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto, Alameda Professor Hern\u00e2ni Monteiro, 4200-039 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"Unidade de Preven\u00e7\u00e3o e Controlo de Infe\u00e7\u00e3o e Resist\u00eancias aos Antimicrobianos, Centro de Epidemiologia Hospitalar, Unidade Local de Sa\u00fade S\u00e3o Jo\u00e3o, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"Laborat\u00f3rio Para a Investiga\u00e7\u00e3o Integrativa e Translacional em Sa\u00fade Populacional (ITR), EPIUnit, Instituto de Sa\u00fade P\u00fablica da Universidade do Porto, Universidade do Porto, 4050-600 Porto, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Parodi, R.L., Lagrutta, M., Tortolo, M., Navall, E., Rodr\u00edguez, M.S., Sasia, G.F., De Candia, L.F., Gruvman, M.A., Bottasso, O., and Greca, A.A. 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