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Culture and sensitivity for UTI

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1 My patient was on Cipro one day for a UTI and then, switched to bactrim next day. I asked my fellow nurse why they changed the antibiotics. She said that patient was sensitive to cipro so they changed to bactrim. What does this mean? As far as I know, sensitive means bacteria can't grow if the drug is present. If patient is sensitive to cipro then cipro is a good antibiotic for the patient's UTI. I am a new nurse and want to learn how to read the c&s result. Can someone please explain this to me?
Maybe she meant that the patient was having an adverse reaction to the medication?!

Comment:
I agree with the pp. The patient must have had stomach upset or some other issue with the Cipro, hence she is sensitive to it. And I bet the next time you see this patient, she will tell you she is allergic to Cipro......As long as the Bactrim is also sensitive to the bacteria, then you are all set. Just look at the C&S and be sure.

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Unless she misspoke and meant resistant. Sensitive to drug like described above (adverse effect like upset stomach can reduce compliance). Why not look at the report and see what it says? It also tells you the specific organism (most common are simple variants of e. Coli)

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Quote from JustBeachyNurseUnless she misspoke and meant resistant.

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Was the patient sensitive to cipro or was the organism sensitive to cipro? (You said "the patient was sensitive.") Big difference. My guess is that it either the nurse and misspoke and mean "resistant" or that the patient was having a side effect from the cipro.

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As for reading the c&s report, they generally list common antibiotics and state "S" or "R" by each one

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Thank you so much for comments. I will look at the C&S and find out whether the patient is sensitive to cipro or the bacteria is sensitive to cipro.

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The patient was started on a broad spectrum (big gun) antibiotic Cipro but the urine culture showed that the organism causing the infection could be treated with a smaller gun(Bactrim). It is common to use a broad spectrum antibiotic when the cause of the infection in not yet known because the culture is pending. The organism was sensitive to (could be killed by) both Cipro and Bactrim.To avoid creating multi drug resistant organisms, it is important to save the big guns for only those infections requiring them. Hospitals have antimicrobial stewardship programs that look into how well the facility is at matching the appropriate antibiotics to the organisms which have been cultured.

Comment:
Quote from OceanpacificThe patient was started on a broad spectrum (big gun) antibiotic Cipro but the urine culture showed that the organism causing the infection could be treated with a smaller gun(Bactrim). It is common to use a broad spectrum antibiotic when the cause of the infection in not yet known because the culture is pending. The organism was sensitive to (could be killed by) both Cipro and Bactrim.To avoid creating multi drug resistant organisms, it is important to save the big guns for only those infections requiring them. Hospitals have antimicrobial stewardship programs that look into how well the facility is at matching the appropriate antibiotics to the organisms which have been cultured.

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Well we have no way of knowing what really happened with this patient. My intuition is that the change in antibiotic was made for the reason I described. However, you are absolutely right that the Cipro could have been discontinued if the patient had an adverse reaction to the drug.

Comment:
If, in the future, DO NOT EVER give me any cipro. Don't know and don't care if I'm 'sensitive' or 'allergic'. Had the WORST GI nausea ever!
Author: peter  5-06-2015, 17:51   Views: 5038   
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