Pharmacist-led stewardship standardised broad-spectrum antibiotic use in a geriatric-heavy neurology ward.

Objectives: To evaluate the impact of clinical pharmacist-led antibiotic stewardship on enhancing the rational use of antibiotics in a geriatric-heavy neurology ward.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on all antibiotic-treated hospitalised cases during the study period, with a total of 123 patients. The study employed a consecutive enrolment design. Of these, 62 cases were managed under a pharmacist-led antibiotic stewardship programme as the intervention group, while the remaining 61 cases served as controls. Primary outcomes included hospitalisation stays, hospitalisation costs, antibiotic consumption, the duration of antibiotic use and the efficacy of antibiotic therapy.

Results: The intervention group exhibited a lower number of defined daily doses (DDDs) per patient between their stay compared with the control group (13.18±1.25 DDDs vs 20.03±2.15 DDDs, p=0.007). Moreover, the duration of single antibiotic treatment was notably reduced in the intervention group (10.40±0.75 days vs 13.16±1.16 days, p=0.047), as was the duration of the single longest empirical therapy with broad-spectrum antibiotics (6.77±0.55 days vs 10.29±1.15 days, p=0.007).

Conclusions: Pharmacist-led antibiotic stewardship effectively optimised antibiotic use in geriatric neurology patients, reducing unnecessary broad-spectrum antibiotic exposure and improving treatment efficiency.