Effective Antibiotic Stewardship Program: Controlling Antibiotic Resistance and Optimizing Drug Use in Ahmadi Hospital

Abstract

An Antimicrobial Stewardship Program (ASP) is established to promote cost effective and safe use of antimicrobial agents. Basically, this approach directs the management of antimicrobials in terms of selection of appropriate drugs, determination of administration routes and standardization of both medication dosage and treatment duration. The program involves, but is not limited to, Hospital Staff Education, Pharmacodynamics Dose Optimization, Computer-Assisted Decision Support Programs, Pharmacist-Driven Intravenous to Oral Switch Programs, Pharmacy Dosing Programs and Antibiotic Cycling. A study was conducted to determine effectiveness of the ASP in significantly improving patient outcomes (e.g. decrease morbidity and mortality from infection). This was undertaken by collecting restrospective data on patient length of hospital stay, bed turnover rate and antibiotic consumption over a period of 2 years since the ASP was initiated. Periodic data were then compared and interpreted based on its clinical, quality and financial implications in order to measure effectiveness of the program implementation.