Sasima Kusuma Na Ayuthya. Antibiotic utilization evaluation in a university hospital. Doctoral Degree(Biopharmaceutical Sciences). Mahidol University. : Mahidol University, 2009-07-23.
Antibiotic utilization evaluation in a university hospital
Abstract:
Antibiotic resistance, a major negative consequence of antibiotic overuse, is
one of the mainstay problems worldwide including in Thailand. The present study was
designed to evaluate the use of antimicrobial before and after the intervention was
implemented in a 1,000-bed university hospital. A concurrent chart review was
conducted in 2 periods from 1 March 2000 31 May 2000 as a pre-intervention
period, and 1 June 2000 31 May 2001 as a post-intervention period at departments of
pediatric and internal medicine, Ramathibodi hospital. Antimicrobial agents namely
ceftazidime, cefoperazone/sulbactam, cefepime, imipenem, meropenem, ciprofloxacin
(IV, PO), netilmicin, vancomycin, azithromycin (PO), and clarithromycin (PO) were
selected for evaluation. The specially designed antibiotic order form, an audit and
feedback with infectious disease specialists, a call for co-operation of clinical health
teams together with the support of the policy makers were used to intervene the
prescribing manner. All relevant clinical data were collected from patients charts and
reviewed within 72 hours of drug treatment and followed up on the third to fifth day
when the microbiological results were available; the amount of drugs used and their
cost were recorded on the discontinuation date. The appropriateness of the antibiotics
used was assessed according to the preset criteria.
There were 343 antibiotic courses studied and collected in the pre-intervention
period and 1314 courses in post-intervention period. The present study suggested that
the means of intervention used in the present study could improve the use of these
antibiotics since the rate of appropriate use increased from 40% to 44 % and the rate of
inappropriate use decreased from 32% to 25% after intervention. The difference
appeared significant only in the internal medicine wards (p=0.011). Vancomycin was
prescribed more appropriately while the use of others studied drugs remained the same
or even less appropriate after intervention was made. Only cefoperazone/sulbactam
was prescribed inappropriately more often after intervention. The most common
culprit of inappropriate use was that the indication did not follow the preset criteria.
There was an increase in inappropriate indication of ceftazidime,
cefoperazone/sulbactam, and IV ciprofloxacin. Ceftazidime appeared to be the only
drug that was prescribed with no dosage adjustment more frequently after intervention.
However, the intervention failed to improve the empirical prescribing since the
frequency of such prescribing remained just as high after intervention was made. The
expenditure of the studied drugs decreased significantly (p< 0.001) in the fiscal year of
the post-intervention period in the internal medicine wards but its results were only
slightly decreased in the total amount of drugs used. However, the hospital could save
more than 1,000,000 baht per 3-month period as compared with the 3-month period of
pre-intervention. In conclusion, an effective means of intervention could reduce the
drug expenditure as well as inappropriate use of the restricted antibiotics.