Antibiotic stewardship program improves antibiotic use in china

(HealthDay)—An antibiotic stewardship program with pharmacist participation can promote improved antibiotic use and decrease costs in clean urological procedures, according to a study published in the August issue of the Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics.

Ying Zhou, from the Peking University First Hospital in China, and colleagues described the impact of pharmacist intervention on the use of antibiotics, especially in clean urological procedures. Data were collected on the use of antibiotics between 2010 and 2013 in urology; the use of prophylactic antibiotics was routine in clean procedures before 2011. From 2011 to 2013, pharmacists participated in antibiotic stewardship programs of the hospital and urological clinical work, and conducted real-time interventions.

The researchers found that antibiotic use density decreased by 57.8 percent and the average antibiotic cost decreased by $246.94 on comparison of 2013 data with 2010 data. There was a 27.7 percent decrease in the cost of antibiotics as a percentage of total drug cost. There was a decrease in the rate of antibiotic use from 100 to 7.3 percent.

"The study illustrates how an antibiotic stewardship program with pharmacist participation including real-time interventions can promote improved antibiotic-prescribing and significantly decrease costs," the authors write.

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