Effectiveness and safety of carbapenem antimicrobial management

Objective To investigate the effectiveness and safety of carbapenem antimicrobial management programs (ASP). Methods 671 patients who were discharged from the emergency department of the hospital from January 2017 to April 2018 were enrolled. These patients were subject to before-and-after self-control studies, using such intervention measures as MDT proactive management-feedback-training. January-September of 2017 was set as the pre-intervention stage, and September 2017-April 2018 as the post-intervention stage. The two stages were compared in such indicators as the monthly antibacterial use, quality of care and hospital acquired infection. Results Thanks to the ASP measure against antibiotics like carbapenems, the use rate of carbapenems at the emergency department ward fell from 36.7% to 18.6%, the defined drug doses (DDDs) of carbapenems fell from 211.92 to 82.22, and the antibiotics use density (AUD) of carbapenems fell from 29.18 DDDs/100 day/patient to 11.56. The pathogen detected rate increased significantly (0.61±0.08 versus 0.78±0.16), with a difference of statistical significance (P=0.020). On the other hand, the mean days of stay, average cost per hospitalization, proportion of antibiotics use, incidence of hospital acquired infections, and the infection/colonization rate of carbapenem-resistant organisms (CROs) present no significant changes. There was a moderate positive correlation between carbapenem DDDs and mean days of stay (P=0.034), and also a moderate positive correlation between hospital acquired infection incidence and CROs infection/colonization rate (r=0.545, P=0.029). Conclusions The carbapenem ASP at the hospital proves safe and effective. CROs infection/colonization may be the cause of hospital acquired infection. Prevention and control against multi-drug resistant bacteria on the basis of ASP may add to the effect of ASP. Key words: Anti-bacterial agents; Carbapenem; Effectiveness; Safety; Multidrug-resistant organisms