Online course

Developed in collaboration with the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC), this module deals with antimicrobials prescribing in a hospital setting.

In this case, you are a surgical resident on rotation to the gastrointestinal surgical service in a teaching hospital. You have a registrar who can help you, but he is generally so busy in theatre that many of the immediate management decisions and choices are left to you.

Mr Johannes Kepler is a 69-year-old male who underwent a hemicolectomy for carcinoma of the descending colon. He has not yet received chemotherapy and is not neutropenic. He develops a fever and chills 3 days post-operatively. He is still nil-by-mouth and he is being maintained on intravenous fluids.