The 2018 Aged Care National Antimicrobial Prescribing Survey: results show room for improvement.

Abstract

SUMMARYThe annual Aged Care National Antimicrobial Prescribing Survey aims to identify local and national prescribing issues and guide antimicrobial stewardship goalsIn the 2018 point prevalence survey, medication charts of over 20,000 residents were reviewed from 407 participating facilities across AustraliaOn the day of the survey, almost 10% of residents were prescribed an antimicrobialNearly two-thirds of recently prescribed antimicrobials were for residents who had no documented signs or symptoms of infectionOver a quarter of antimicrobials had been prescribed for longer than six monthsIncomplete documentation was a prominent barrier to proper review of antimicrobial therapy, with the indication, review date or stop date not documented for many prescriptionsRecommendations include using appropriate microbiological testing to guide prescribing, following national antimicrobial prescribing guidelines, documenting the indication for the antimicrobial, and its start, stop and review dates, and monitoring and re-evaluating long-term antimicrobial use