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Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) continues to present a challenge to international healthcare systems and structures of public health. The focus on optimizing antibiotic prescribing in human populations has challenged healthcare systems charged with making responsible their physician-prescribers. In the United States, physicians in almost every specialty and role use antibiotics as part of their therapeutic armamentariums. In United States hospitals, most patients are administered antibiotics during their stay. Therefore, antibiotic prescribing and utilization is a commonly accepted part of medical practice. In this paper, we utilize social science work on antibiotic prescribing to examine a critical space of care in United States hospital settings. From March to August 2018, we used ethnographic methods to study hospital-based medical intensive care unit physicians at the offices and hospital floors they frequent in two urban United States teaching hospitals. We focused on eliciting the interactions and discussions surrounding antibiotic decision-making that are uniquely influenced by the context of medical intensive care units. We argue that antibiotic use in the medical intensive care units under study was shaped by urgency, hierarchy, and uncertainty representative of the medical intensive care unit's role within the larger hospital system. We conclude that by studying the culture of antibiotic prescribing in medical intensive care units, we can see more clearly both the vulnerability of the looming antimicrobial resistance crisis and by contrast the perceived insignificance of stewarding antibiotic use when considered alongside the fragility of life amidst acute medical concerns regularly experienced in the unit. • Antibiotic prescribing in the intensive care unit was shaped by existing workflows. • The pressure to treat patients in an urgent manner led to increased antibiotic use. • Felt urgency combined with complicated patient cases fostered uncertainty. • Participants recognized an interconnectedness with other teams working in the unit. • Participants used timeliness as a rationale for antibiotic prescribing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Foot and limb infections are common issues in captive cranes, and traditional antibiotic therapy can be unrewarding. Three cranes at two captive institutions in the United States with foot and limb infections were treated with regional limb perfusion of intravenous antibiotics. The details of treatment are described in this paper. All three cranes recovered from their infections following regional limb perfusion in combination with systemic antibiotics. Pododermatitis and wing lesions are commonly reported issues in captive crane species. Regional limb perfusion has been used as a treatment for distal limb infections in several avian species, as systemic antibiotic therapy is often prolonged and unrewarding. A black-necked crane (Grus nigricollis), Siberian crane (Leucogeranus leucogeranus), and wattled crane (Bugeranus carunculatus) were treated with amikacin (5–10 mg/kg IV infusion) regional limb perfusion for cellulitis and osteomyelitis of hind limb digits and alular osteomyelitis and septic arthritis of the carpus, respectively, with a range of 1–3 treatments per case. Clinical signs of infection resolved within 10–40 days following regional limb perfusion combined with oral or parental antibiotic therapy. No side effects were observed following regional limb perfusion. This is the first report of regional limb perfusion in cranes and the first report of intravenous regional limb perfusion in a wing of an avian species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]