A new report for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed that clinicians in some hospitals prescribe three times as many antibiotics as others for patients being treated in similar health care facility sections.
The researchers also identified a potential error that many facilities made when prescribing antibiotics to treat urinary tract infections and the common drug vancomycin, a news release reported via PR Newswire.
The team found a 30 percent reduction in prescriptions of a drug that can cause deadly diarrheal infections.
"Improving antibiotic prescribing can save today's patients from deadly infections and protect lifesaving antibiotics for tomorrow's patients," CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. said in the news release. "Health care facilities are an important part of the solution to drug resistance and every hospital in the country should have a strong antibiotic stewardship program."
Over half of hospital patients will receive antibiotics at some point during their stay. The most common conditions in which antibiotics are prescribed involve " urinary tract infections, lung infections and suspected infections caused by drug-resistant Staphylococcus bacteria," the news release reported.
In order to help better-guide hospital in prescribing antibiotics the CDC released a list of "practical tools" that could help improve the system.
They recommended that all hospitals: devote the necessary resources; appoint a leader responsible for the antibiotic stewardship program; appoint an expert in prescriptions; take at least one action to improve the stewardship program; monitor prescription patterns; report prescribing and resistance information to clinicians; and "offer education about antibiotic resistance and improving prescribing practices," the news release reported.
"Today's antibiotics are miracle drugs, but they are endangered," Arjun Srinivasan, M.D. CDC medical epidemiologist, said in the news release. "These new materials provide core elements and practical tools for beginning and advancing antibiotic stewardship programs."
