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Carlos Bantar, Beatriz Sartori, Eduardo Vesco, Claudia Heft, Mariano Saúl, Francisco Salamone, María Eugenia Oliva, A Hospitalwide Intervention Program to Optimize the Quality of Antibiotic Use: Impact on Prescribing Practice, Antibiotic Consumption, Cost Savings, and Bacterial Resistance, Clinical Infectious Diseases, Volume 37, Issue 2, 15 July 2003, Pages 180–186, https://doi.org/10.1086/375818
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Abstract
Several findings from Argentina provide compelling evidence of the need for more rational use of antimicrobial agents. Thus, a multidisciplinary antimicrobial treatment committee for the development of a hospital-wide intervention program was formed to optimize the quality of antibiotic use in hospitals. Four successive steps were developed during 6-month periods: baseline data collection, introduction of a prescription form, education, and prescribing control. Sustained reduction of drug consumption was shown during the study (R2 = 0.6885; P = .01). Total cost savings was US$913,236. To estimate the consumption of R2p0.6885 Pp.01 cefepime and aminopenicillin-sulbactam in relation to that of the third-generation cephalosporins, 2 indices were calculated: Icfp and Iams, respectively. Decreasing resistance to ceftriaxone by Proteus mirabilis and Enterobacter cloacae proved to be associated with increasing Icfp. Decreasing rates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus were related to increasing Iams. The present study indicates that a systematic program performed by a multidisciplinary team is a cost-effective strategy for optimizing antibiotic prescribing.