Growing a "positive culture" of antimicrobial stewardship in a community hospital.

BACKGROUND: Promoting the appropriate use of antimicrobials is a core value of antimicrobial stewardship. Prospective audit and feedback constitute an effective strategy for reducing the cost and use of antimicrobials, as well as their adverse effects, such as infection with Clostridium difficile.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the antimicrobial stewardship program in the intensive care unit at the authors' hospital, in order to determine the cost and utilization of antimicrobials, as well as the rate of nosocomially acquired C. difficile infection.

METHODS: An infectious diseases team, consisting of a physician and a pharmacist, performed prospective audit and feedback during a pilot study (April to June 2010). The team met with the intensive care unit team daily to discuss optimization of therapy. The cost and utilization of antimicrobial drugs, as well as rates of C. difficile infection, were compared between the pilot period and the same period during the previous year (April to June 2009). For 3 months after the pilot phase (i.e., July to September 2010), the strategy was continued 3 days per week.

RESULTS: AFTER INTRODUCTION OF THE ANTIMICROBIAL STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM, THERE WAS A SIGNIFICANT REDUCTION IN THE COST OF ANTIMICROBIAL DRUGS: $27 917 less than during the same period in the previous year, equivalent to a reduction of $15.45 (36.2%) per patient-day ($42.63 versus $27.18). Utilization of broad-spectrum antipseudomonal antimicrobial agents was also significantly lower, declining from 63.16 to 38.59 defined daily doses (DDDs) per 100 patient-days (reduction of 38.9%). After the pilot period, the rate declined further, to 28.47 DDDs/100 patient-days. During the pilot period, there were no cases of C. difficile infection, and in the post-pilot period, there was 1 case (overall rate 0.42 cases/1000 patient-days). This rate was lower than (but not significantly different from) the rate for April to September 2009 (1.87 cases/1000 patient-days). There were no differences in mortality rate or severity of illness.

CONCLUSION: The antimicrobial stewardship program in this community hospital was associated with significant decreases in antimicrobial costs and in utilization of antipseudomonal antimicrobial agents and a nonsignificant decrease in the rate of C. difficile infection. Knowledge exchange, peer-to-peer communication, and decision support, key factors in this success, will be applied in implementing the antimicrobial stewardship program throughout the hospital.