Improvement in antibiotic use secondary to a small hospital antibiotic review

An ongoing antibiotic review was instituted in a 144-bed, community teaching hospital. The objectives were to establish criteria defining the use of antibiotics and to identify and quantify antibiotic use not fulfilling these criteria. Through medical staff review of this data on antibiotic use, utilization was then changed to conform with established criteria or was identified as an exception to the criteria. A 45% improvement in antibiotic use was noted when data from the first 9 months of the audit were compared with the second 9-month period. This report shows that a pharmacy-directed antibiotic review can have a positive effect on drug utilization in a small community hospital.