Correct. I’m a third year medical student on my clinical rotations right now, and I worked in the medical field for 4 years before starting med school.

Empiric treatment is not the broadest spectrum possible. Yes, they will put someone on Augmentin for a human bite, but that’s very different from putting someone on IV vancomycin or meropenem. The augmentin will probably cover anything in that bite, but if the culture comes back showing resistance, then you switch to something else.

I’ve been in clinical rotations and my attending physicians have been very clear about antibiotic use and there is a lot of clinical evidence and guidance for minimizing broad spectrum use.

We like to use the narrowest spectrum antibiotics possible to limit side effects and breeding resistance. Also, the really broad spectrum ones are expensive.