Impact of a comprehensive antimicrobial stewardship program on antimicrobial utilization and clinical isolates distribution in ICUs

Abstract

Objective This study aimed to evaluate the effect of a comprehensive antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP) and provide clinical evidence for the scientific stewardship of antimicrobials in intensive care units (ICUs) of a teaching hospital.Methods Between January 2013 and December 2018, we conducted a prospective study, based on an antimicrobial computerized clinical decision support system (aCDSS) deployed in 2015 in ICUs of a tertiary and teaching hospital. The primary outcomes included initial and overall use prevalence of antimicrobials. The second outcomes were the detection rate of common clinical isolates before and after therapeutic antimicrobial use, and the change in patterns of resistance of 5 common clinical isolates in the ICU.Results Various types of broad-spectrum antimicrobial use prevalence continued to increase from 2013 to 2015, since 2016, where initial use of carbapenems and glycopeptides were counterbalanced by an increase in use of the first/second-generation cephalosporins, β-lactam and β-lactamase inhibitor combinations and linezolid. From 2015 to 2018, the proportion of extended-broad spectrum antimicrobials alone, wide-coverage therapy and combination therapy decreased significantly (P<0.05). Similarly, where use of carbapenems, glycopeptides, third/fourth-generation cephalosporins and anti-fungi agents were counterbalanced by an increase in overall use of the first/second-generation cephalosporins and β-lactam and β-lactamase inhibitor combinations. A total of 21891 strains of bacteria and fungi were detected in ICUs from 2015 to 2018, of them, 6.5% (1426/21891) strains were detected before antimicrobial treatment. The detection proportion of Staphylococcus aureus , Escherichia coli , Klebsiella pneumoniae and fastidious bacteria were significantly higher before antimicrobial treatment (P<0.05), while Acinetobacter baumannii , Burkholderia cepacia , and Candida spp were significantly lower in all non-repetitive clinical isolates (P<0.05).Conclusions The implementation of a comprehensive ASP combining CDSS in ICUs seems to be effective to improve outcomes on antimicrobial utilization and clinical isolates distribution in critically ill patients.