ABSTRACT
Costs and use of antimicrobial agents in 1976 at 19 hospitals were surveyed by review of pharmacy records. Total costs of antimicrobial drugs at individual hospitals ranged from $0.65 to $1.75 per patient day and accounted for 16% to 41% of total pharmacy drug costs. There was marked variation among hospitals in use of specific antimicrobial agents, especially cephalosporins and clindamycin. The cephalosporin and aminoglycoside antibiotics accounted for 66% of the total cost of antimicrobial agents. An 18-month antimicrobial drug control program at one hospital decreased antimicrobial drug costs by 31%. The major effect was in reducing cephalosporin use. The results of the control program document that a significant portion of hospital antimicrobial use is inappropriate and can be eliminated without apparent detriment to patient care.
Subject(s)
Anti-Bacterial Agents/therapeutic use , Drug Utilization , Hospitals , Costs and Cost Analysis , Drug Utilization/economics , Economics, Hospital , Hospitals, Community , Hospitals, Veterans , Humans , Peer Review , United StatesABSTRACT
The pharmacokinetics of minocycline have been studied after single intravenous infusions and repeated oral doses to human subjects with varying degrees of renal impairment. There was no evidence of reduced drug clearance with reduced renal function after intravenous doses although there appeared to be an increase in the tissue distribution of antibiotic in the body in uremia. After identical multiple oral dosage regimens serum levels of antibiotic were comparable in normal and mildly uremic subjects. There was no evidence of renal toxicity in normal or uremic subjects with the repeated dosage regimen used.
