ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Global assessment of antimicrobial agents prescribed to infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) may inform antimicrobial stewardship efforts. METHODS: We conducted a one-day global point prevalence study of all antimicrobials provided to NICU infants. Demographic, clinical, and microbiologic data were obtained including NICU level, census, birth weight, gestational/chronologic age, diagnoses, antimicrobial therapy (reason for use; length of therapy), antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP), and 30-day in-hospital mortality. FINDINGS: On July 1, 2019, 26% of infants (580/2,265; range, 0-100%; median gestational age, 33 weeks; median birth weight, 1800 g) in 84 NICUs (51, high-income; 33, low-to-middle income) from 29 countries (14, high-income; 15, low-to-middle income) in five continents received ≥1 antimicrobial agent (92%, antibacterial; 19%, antifungal; 4%, antiviral). The most common reasons for antibiotic therapy were "rule-out" sepsis (32%) and "culture-negative" sepsis (16%) with ampicillin (40%), gentamicin (35%), amikacin (19%), vancomycin (15%), and meropenem (9%) used most frequently. For definitive treatment of presumed/confirmed infection, vancomycin (26%), amikacin (20%), and meropenem (16%) were the most prescribed agents. Length of therapy for culture-positive and "culture-negative" infections was 12 days (median; IQR, 8-14) and 7 days (median; IQR, 5-10), respectively. Mortality was 6% (42%, infection-related). An NICU ASP was associated with lower rate of antibiotic utilization (p = 0·02). INTERPRETATION: Global NICU antibiotic use was frequent and prolonged regardless of culture results. NICU-specific ASPs were associated with lower antibiotic utilization rates, suggesting the need for their implementation worldwide. FUNDING: Merck & Co.; The Ohio State University College of Medicine Barnes Medical Student Research Scholarship.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: Most prescribing through the electronic health record (EHR) in the NICU at St. Vincent Women's Hospital use a weight-based dosing calculator. Prescribers receive no alert if the resulting volume is unmeasurable. Study definition of measurable was a dose volume with a visible hash mark on an appropriately sized oral syringe. The primary objective was to compare the rate of unmeasurable oral liquid doses prescribed at discharge before and after implementation of educational process changes. Secondary objectives assessed patient and discharge medication characteristics in relation to the unmeasurable doses prescribed. METHODS: This study was a 2-phase retrospective analysis of patients discharged from the NICU between January 1 and June 30, 2016 (phase I), and between October 1, 2017, and March 31, 2018 (phase II). Patients were included in the analysis if they were discharged on at least 1 oral liquid medication, excluding vitamins. Demographic and discharge medication information was collected. RESULTS: There were 58 patients discharged on a total of 118 oral liquid medications in phase I and 63 patients discharged on a total of 111 oral liquid medications in phase II. Following implementation of the process change, the percentage of unmeasurable discharge prescriptions decreased from 27 (23%) to 5 (4.5%) (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The educational process change implemented in the NICU effectively reduced the rate of unmeasurable doses prescribed at discharge from 1 in 4 to 1 in 25. Additional system-level changes may result in further reductions.
