[Antibiotics utilization in the Intensive Care Unit of the Hospital Dr, Guillermo Rawson-San Juan, Argentina]

To achieve rational use of antibiotics (ATB), is necessary to know its use and prescription patterns over time, Objective: To describe and analyze the characteristics of the use of ATB in the Guillermo Rawson Hospital (GRH) adult intensive care unit (ICU).

Observational, descriptive, longitudinal and retrospective study (2008-2011). Pharmacy and Statistics records were consulted, ATC code was used, the group analyzed was J01, Oral or parenteral DDD were assigned, Data was processed with Excel 2007, Unit of measure: DDD/100 bed-days, for each ATB per year and an average of use.

Over 4 years, 48 different medicines were dispensed (33 drugs), The average consumption of ATB was 177,07 DDD/100 bed-days and distribution per year was: 183,10, 165,90, 180,94, 178,34, The DDD/100 bed-days average for treatment groups more used were: penicillin (57.10), other β-lactam antibacterials (48.01), other antibacterials (21.07), trimethoprim and sulfonamides (19,54), quinolones (15,64), macrolides/azalides and lincosamides (6,53), aminoglycosides (5,65) and tetracyclines (3,53), There were changes in consumption without clear pattern of increase or decrease.

ATB used in the ICU and its variation in use between 2008-2011 were described, The ATB most used were penicillins and other β-lactams and 2008 was the year that more ATB was dispensed. Understanding these patterns of consumption will be useful to develop a founded antibiotic policy reached by consensus and beneficial to the patients.