Effectivenes of antibiotic use

APIC February 2010 Volume 38 Number 1, pages 38 -43

Effectivenss of drug use evaluation and antibiotic authoriation on patient's clinical outcomes, antibiotic consumption, and antibiotic expenditures

authors: P Rattanaumpawan, P Sutha, V Thamlikitkul (Bangkok, Thailand)

Background: zosyn,imipenem, and merepenem were inappropriately used in 50% of hosptialized patients. Hospital administrators implemented drug use evaluation (DUE) and antibiotic authorization for the abpove mentioned antibiotics beginning AUgust 2007. The objective of the study was to determine the effectiveness of antibiotic authorization on patient's clinical outcomes, antibiotic consumption, and antibioitc expenditures

Results: The patients who received antibiotic authorization had more favorable clinical outcomes (68.9% vs 60.5%) shorter duration of target antibiotics (7.5 days vs 9.3 days)
and lower mortality because of infections (29.4% vs 35.4%) than those who did not receive antibiotic authorization.

The costs of target antibiotics and all antibiotics in the authorization group were much less than those in the no-authorization group. The annual antibiotic cost savings from DUE can be figured out to $862,704.00

Conclusion: DUE and antibiotic authorization are effective strategies in reducing antibiotic consumption and expenditures, without compromising patient outcomes.