Prescription Patterns and Compliance with Antimicrobial Stewardship Team Recommendations Among Physicians in a Private Hospital in United Arab Emirates

Abstract

Aim: To describe the prescription patterns and the compliance to antimicrobial stewardship team recommendations among physicians practicing at Al Zahra Private Hospital, Dubai. Methods: A point prevalence study of antimicrobial prescription between January 2020 to April 2020 in “Al-Zahra” private hospital, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. All patients aged > 14 years who were prescribed at least one dose of antimicrobial agents were included with a total of 666 patients. Exclusion Criteria: Patients are seen in A/E and ambulatory care who did not stay overnight and those who received antimicrobials for perioperative or medical prophylaxis were excluded. Statistical Analysis: Statistical Analysis was done using excel program descriptive statistics were used to describe the baseline demographic data and clinical characteristics. Categorical variables are presented as counts and percentages, whereas continuous variables are presented as mean. Results: A total of 666 patients’ medical records were reviewed during January 2020 to April 2020. Respiratory tract infections were the most common diagnosis encountered (456/666), representing 68.5% in total. A total of 994 courses of antimicrobials were prescribed during the study period. Antimicrobial was considered 'appropriate' in 70.3% (979/1393), and ‘not indicated' in 19.7% (273/1393) of cases. In the remaining 10% of cases (141/1393), antimicrobial was indicated but required antimicrobial stewardship team (A.M.S) intervention. The compliance to accept antimicrobial stewardship team recommendations and change therapy accordingly in our study was only 32.6% (133/412) Conclusion: In this study, the prevalence of inappropriate antimicrobial prescribing is comparable to that found in other studies worldwide. However, the compliance with AMS recommendations is much lower than described in the literature.