A cellulitis service
The CREST (2005) guidelines proposed increasing awareness – in both primary and acute care – of the need to improve cellulitis diagnosis and management. They advocated a dedicated cellulitis service to reduce delays in diagnosis, cut the costs and administration of inappropriate treatment and increase the day-to-day management of cellulitis and education about the condition. The multidisciplinary approach ideally should include:
» Nurse (community or hospital);
» GP;
» Pharmacist;
» Microbiologist;
» Specialist services – dermatology;
» Physiotherapist;
» Lymphoedema services.
These recommendations have been put
into practice in some hospital trusts. The
Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital
shows an excellent example of this initiative
and offers a same-day referral cellulitis
clinic in the dermatology outpatient
department (Wingfield, 2008). GPs can
refer patients with lower limb cellulitis to
this clinic, where they receive a thorough
assessment including diagnosis, treatment
and investigation of any differential
diagnosis or coexisting skin disease.
Patients are seen by a specialist team
and booked into a 90-minute assessment
slot. Suitable patients are treated with
ceftriaxone intravenous (IV) therapy, a
once-a-day antibiotic IV treatment adminstered
over a three-day period. After
receiving their first administration in
clinic they are discharged with an IV cannula
in situ and receive their next two
doses at home from the community IV
team. On day four they return to the clinic
for review where they are stepped down to
oral antibiotics. This has produced a significant
saving on bed days, offset against
the cost of outpatient treatment. In recognition
of this service innovation, the clinic
received the Health Enterprise East Innovation
Award in 2008.
The benefits of the service are:
» A faster pathway
» A red streak from an area of cellulitis or
a progressively fast-spreading area of
redness;
» Significant pain not relieved by
recommended analgesia;
» Inability to move an extremity or joint
because of pain;
» Nausea and vomiting.
Patients with diabetes, cancer or immunosuppression
should be made aware that
localised cellulitis may become serious