Abstract
Background: Antimicrobial stewardship (ASP) aims to stopping or slowing emergence of antimicrobial resistant strains. After initiation of National action plan on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Egypt, there were several initiatives by hospitals to implement ASP but no formal assessment was performed.Objective & setting: This study attempts to assess the extent of ASP application in different Egyptian hospitals; stewardship knowledge & implementation in selected hospitals. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess stewardship knowledge & implementation in selected hospitals in Egypt. Main outcome measure: Core elements of the survey included Hospital Description, ASP committee, ASP Activities (including training, restriction methods and outcome measurement), reporting antibiotic use, antibiogram, information technology (IT) support, ASP restriction methods and ASP Future ApplicationResults: The study included many aspects regarding hospital description; all types of hospitals were involved. Most of hospitals (61.8%) implemented an ASP program while 38.2% did not; 71.4 % of the later are planning for future Antimicrobial stewardship application. 22 hospitals (48.5%) reported having facility-specific antibiogram on regular basis. 13 hospitals (37.1%) reported receiving antimicrobial reports on regular basis. 15 hospitals (42.9%) reported having one or more computer programs already in use. The monitoring activities included resistance patterns, infection rates, length of stay, mortality rate & reported adverse drug reactions. Only 20% of the hospitals included in this study reported having an ASP training program. Conclusion: Egyptian hospitals have a fairly good implementation, improvements need to include IT support programs, healthcare members cooperation, monitoring outcomes & infectious disease (ID) consultations.
A cross-sectional study of blood cultures and antibiotic use in patients admitted from the Emergency Department: missed opportunities for antimicrobial stewardship
