Table 5.

Recommendations on duration of therapy

Topic	Recommendation	Society	Country
Discontinuation of antibiotic treatment	Do not continue antibiotics beyond 72 h in hospitalized patients unless patient has clear evidence of infection*	Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America	United States of America
		Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists	Canada
	Unnecessarily long antibiotic therapy should be avoided	German Society for Internal Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine	Germany
Perioperative Prophylaxis	Never administer antibiotics for perioperative prophylaxis beyond 24 h after surgery. Antibiotic prophylaxis should be limited to the perioperative period. The choice to continue prophylaxis beyond the first 24 postoperative hours is not justified**	The Italian Association of Doctors of the Hospital Directions	Italy
		The Italian Society of Hygiene, Preventive Medicine and Public Health	Italy
	Do not continue antibiotics used for surgical prophylaxis after the patient has left the operating room*/**	German Society for Infectious Diseases (DGI)	Germany
		Swiss Society for Infectious Diseases	Switzerland
		AAGL	United States of America
		American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery	United States of America
		Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America	United States of America

*For the exact wording of the Societies' recommendations, refer to the original recommendations

**Recommendation listed in two or more tables