Deutsche medizinische Wochenschrift
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Dtsch. Med. Wochenschr. · Nov 2015
Multicenter Study[Recent antibiotic use in German acute care hospitals - from benchmarking to improved prescribing and quality care].
In view of increasing rates of bacterial resistance and Clostridium difficile infections efforts to enhance appropriate and intelligent antibiotic prescribing have become important. A prerequisite is the availability of reliable antibiotic use data. So far antibiotic consumption data in this country had only a very limited coverage of acute care hospitals. ⋯ Prescribing of antibiotics on almost every second day of hospitalization was extensive and highly variable, and the frequent use of cephalosporins is noteworthy. It is possible that the development of resistance and the rate of Clostridium difficile infection is associated with the diverse antibiotic use intensity and preferences for prescribing of cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones. Continuous antibiotic use surveillance and evaluation of prescribing patterns in acute care with feedback and benchmarking will help optimizing antibiotic use and better assessing strategies to minimize resistance and Clostridium difficile infection, and eventually improve patient safety.