Audits of Antibiotic Prescribing

Audits of antibiotic prescribing
Dr. S. Natsch
clinical pharmacist, clinical pharmacologist
Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre
Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Audits of medication use
Aim:
• Evaluation and improvement of correct use of drugs
• Focus on quality of use at a patient level

Antimicrobial drugs
• Use has not only impact on individual patient

• Adds to the problem of resistance
Therapy
Host Commensals
Pathogens
Dynamics of resistance
Mechanism of resistance Dosing regimen, combinations,

Reversion of resistance on AB rotation (cycling), length of treatment
withdrawal
Bug Drug
Patient Hospital
Inoculum
Total amount of use of AB
Foreign body
de novo or clonal resistance
Immune system
Performance of an audit
• Measuring the quality of prescibing of antimicrobials

• Results serve as basis for development of guidelines
• Measurement of adherence to guideline after
implementation
• Benchmarking: comparison of different departments
or hospitals
• Early-warning system indicating changes in patterns
of drug use
Target of an audit
To be determined in an early stage:
• Focus on a specific antibiotic or group of
antimicrobials
• Aminoglycosides, cephalosporins
• Focus on infections with selected microorganisms
• Fungi, Pseudomonas
• Focus on microorganisms with particular resistance
pattern
• ESBL-producing gramnegative rods
• Focus on specific diseases
• Pneumonia, bloodstream infections
• Focus on selected population
• Elderly, children
Quality assessment
Start
yes
no VI Duration IIIa
Sufficient data Stop
too long
yes no
no yes
V Stop Duration IIIb
AB justified
too short
yes no
no
yes Correct dose IIa
Alternative IVa
more effective yes
no
no
IIb
yes Correct interval
Alternative IVb
yes
less toxic
no no
Correct route IIc
Alternative yes yes

less IVc
no
expensive no
Correct timing I
yes
yes
Alternative IVd
narrower Not in categories I-IV
spectrum no
continued 0
Van der Meer and Gyssens, CMI 2001;7 (Suppl 6):12-15

Quality circle:
Act Plan
Check Do
'HPLQJ F\FOXV
The surveillance cycle and beyond:
Data collection Program planning
Data Analysis Program Implementation
Data Interpretation Program Evaluation
Information
dissemination
Outcome parameters
• Clinical parameters
• Morbidity, mortality, clinical and microbiological cure
• Surrogate parameters
• Biochemical, functional, anatomical changes
• Process outcome measures
• Reduction in use, reduction in costs, changes in
resistance
• Timing, dosing, route of administration
Structure Process Outcome
Tests performed by Results of tests

Characteristics laboratory
of diagnostic
laboratory
Physician’s Test ordered by physician

characteristics
Results of tests interpreted
by physician Diagnosis: the illness
and its characteristics
Treatment chosen and

executed
Change in patient’s
health
Donabedian, QRB 1992;Nov:356-60.
Example 1
Earlier initiation of antibiotic treatment in the emergency
department
• Time from presentation to the emergency room until

administration of antibiotics.
• Time of taking cultures for microbiological analysis
• Number of cultures taken
• Body temperature, leucocyte count and ESR at
admission
Natsch et al, Arch Intern Med 2000;160:1317-20.

Results:
• Median AB time was 5 hours,

range 0.5 to 13.3 h
• Significant difference between admission during
working hours and admission at night.
• No difference neither on the presenting syndrome, the
body temperature or the laboratory values at
presentation nor the number of cultures taken.
100%
Percentage of patients
80%
60%
40% Admission during office hours

Admission at night
P< 0.05
20%
Admission during weekends
0%
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Hours
Interventions
• Newsletter to the medical staff

• Guidelines on ordering immediate treatment
• Guidelines on obtaining cultures
• Lectures to the medical staff
• Lectures to the nursing staff
• Improvement of the availability of antibiotics
• Removal of financial restraints
Results
before after p
median delay (h):
total 5.0r2.9 3.2r2.5 0.037
during office hours 6.1r3.2 (n=15) 3.3r2.8 (n=23) 0.064
at night 3.7r1.9 (n=22) 2.8r1.9 (n=17) 0.22
during weekends 5.0r3.4 (n=13) 4.5r2.3 (n=10) 0.49
Antibiotics administered
at routine drug rounds 54% 32% 0.03
Example 2
Evaluation of patients for intravenous-to-oral switch therapy:
175
patients included
66 109
data sufficient
incomplete data
9 81 22 6
switch treatment treatment p.o. treatment
intravenously discontinued
19 62
not suitable suitable for
for switch switch
2 35 27
switch tx switched whole treatment i.v.
5 6 24
too early on time too late
Improving the process of antibiotic therapy. Vogtländer et al,

Arch Intern Med 2004;164:1206-12
Renal function:
175
patients included
23 152
data sufficient
incomplete data
50 102
clearance < 50ml/min clearance >50ml/min
119
prescriptions
24 95
no dose adjustment necessary dose adjustment necessary
38 57
correctly adjusted not adjusted
Example 3
Antibiotic prophylaxis in surgery
15
12 before (n=777)
after (n=410)
9
in%
0
-100
100
-50
-30
-40
-20
-10
-90
-70
-80
-60
10
30
50
20
40
80
60
70
90
0
Time in min. (0= Incision)

Example 4
Use of fluconazole in daily practice: still room for
improvement
Target drug programme

• Fluconazole is one of the most active and best
tolerated antifungal drugs available
• Retain its good activity against fungi
• Prevent development of resistance
• Prevent shift to non-albicans species
J Antimicrob Chemother. 2001;48:303-10.

Data collection
• Prospective identification of patients receiving
fluconazole
• Assess indication/reason for prescription
• Collection of laboratory results (microbiology,
haematology, chemistry)
• Document complete medication history
Data from patient file:
• actual medical problems
• underlying disease, co-morbidity
• clinical signs (body temperature, blood pressure)
• course of the treatment
• outcome (cured, died, switched to other antifungal
treatment, no fungal infection diagnosed)
Disseminated candidiasis
% patients on fluconazol
100
90
80
70 Hospital A
60 Hospital B
50
40
30
20
10
0
0 7 14 21 28 35 42
days
Results
Actual vs. recommended duration of

treatment
20
15 actual duration
days
10 recommended
duration
5
0
oral oesophageal
candidiasis candidiasis
Data collection
• Trained data collectors, research nurses, pharmacy

technicians, infection control practitioners
• Use of specific antibiotic order forms
• Retrospectively or prospectively
Quality evaluation
• Independent experts and comparison of agreement

• Panel discussion until agreement
Implementation of an audit
• Careful selection of target

• Careful selection of outcome measure
• Communication about audit:
• Involvement of pharmacy and therapeutics committee
• Involvement of antibiotic committee
• Be aware of extra administrative work for physicians
• Realistic timeframe
• Clear follow-up of audit
Dos and Don’ts for Implementing a Target Drug Program
Dos Don’ts
Choose the right drugs (consider volume, Overload physicians with paperwork
risks, costs and problems encountered) Fail to see the feasibility for all disciplines
Identify the problems (baseline included) Make decisions in isolation
Specify the criteria Try too much or too fast
Benchmark Forget to follow-up
Summarize the project for AB committee Focus on costs only
Estimate outcomes Forget to get baseline information
Create incentives Neglect the impact
Communicate about the project Get pressured
Simplify the project Underestimate the workload
Provide for exceptions (inclusion, exclusion)
Reevaluate and update early in the program
Be prepared (proactive)
Be action oriented

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Audits of antibiotic prescribing

• Focus on quality of use at a patient level

• Use has not only impact on individual patient

Mechanism of resistance Dosing regimen, combinations,

• Measuring the quality of prescibing of antimicrobials

Alternative yes yes

Van der Meer and Gyssens, CMI 2001;7 (Suppl 6):12-15

Data collection Program planning

Data Analysis Program Implementation

Data Interpretation Program Evaluation

Tests performed by Results of tests

Physician’s Test ordered by physician

Treatment chosen and

• Time from presentation to the emergency room until

Natsch et al, Arch Intern Med 2000;160:1317-20.

• Median AB time was 5 hours,

40% Admission during office hours

• Newsletter to the medical staff

Improving the process of antibiotic therapy. Vogtländer et al,

Time in min. (0= Incision)

Target drug programme

J Antimicrob Chemother. 2001;48:303-10.

Actual vs. recommended duration of

• Trained data collectors, research nurses, pharmacy

• Independent experts and comparison of agreement

• Careful selection of target

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