Apport des logiciels d'aide à la décision en antibiothérapie

In this article, gradual development of guidelines concerning infectious diseases treatments is recalled; some elementary principles about database systems are introduced. The advantages and limits of the association of these two means of diffusion of knowledge and information are discussed. Among the numerous antibiotic therapy decision-support systems, it is undoubted that the Salt Lake City experience is at the present time the most elaborated one, and its application the most integrated one in the hospital's information processing system. In Europe, physicians have also designed decision-support systems to enhance antibiotic-therapy guidelines impact, or to apply specific protocols, especially in intensive care units or in geriatrics.