ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the antibiotics use in inpatients with hospitals under different scales.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>On the day of August 7, 2003, antibiotics use among inpatients were investigated, medical order to each inpatient was checked and forms were filled.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Data showed that 54.86% of the 89,539 inpatients from 151 hospitals were using antibiotics, out of which 48.98% were used for therapeutic purposes while 35.44% for prophylaxis, and 15.58% for both therapy and prophylaxis. Among those who had received antibiotics, 61.43% received one, 33.65% received two and 4.92% received 3 or more agents. In patients who were on antibiotics for therapy, only 23.92% of the samples were sent for pathogens detection. The prevalence of antibiotics use was different among different hospitals, with teaching hospitals having the lowest and hospitals with less than 300 beds were higher than those with more than 300 beds. Departments of respiratory diseases, intensive care unit, and pediatrics had the higher use of antibiotics.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Inpatients in 151 hospitals had high prevalence of antibiotics use, especially for prophylaxis use but pathogen detection was seldomly done. It is necessary to strengthen the rational use and management of antibiotics use in the hospitals.</p>