Naslov
Antimicrobial prescribing at a university hospital: justified or 'just in case'. Testing a new scoring system as a key quality indicator.

Autori
Vlahović-Palčevski, Vera ; Francetić, Igor ; Palčevski, Goran ; Novak, Srđan ; Bergman, Ulf

Izvornik
Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety (1053-8569) 14 (2005), 8; 561-566

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u časopisima, članak, znanstveni

Ključne riječi
antimicrobial drug prescription ; scoring system ; quality assesment

Sažetak
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the quality of antimicrobial drug prescribing at a university hospital in the Department of Medicine, by using a new scoring system as a quality indicator. METHODS: Design: a prospective, longitudinal survey, during a 21-week period. The necessity of antimicrobial treatment of all in-patients at the Department of Medicine, to whom new antimicrobials were prescribed, was assessed by using a scoring system based on the presence of signs and symptoms of an infection. If the sum's total score was 3 or more, the antimicrobial treatment was deemed justifiable ; if the score was less than 3, the antimicrobial treatment was regarded as questionable. Setting: Department of Medicine (279 hospital-beds) at the University Hospital Center Rijeka, a 1200-patient-bed teaching hospital in Croatia. RESULTS: Antimicrobials were prescribed to 15% of the total patients. They were given as a treatment to 89% of the patients, and in 67% of the cases, this treatment was administered empirically. According to the scoring system, 29% of the patients did not have a justified indication for antimicrobial treatment. CONCLUSION: The proposed quality indicator (scoring system) that we used is a simple method for the quality assessment of antimicrobial use. It has indicated areas that require in-depth analysis.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Kliničke medicinske znanosti

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