The effect of re-audit and education on antibiotic prescribing practice at Causeway Hospital, Northern Ireland

Antimicrobial resistance is a growing global problem. There has been increasing emphasis on promoting antimicrobial stewardship. Accurate completion of antibiotic prescriptions, such as documentation of clinical indication and a stop/review date, helps promote antimicrobial stewardship.

To investigate the impact of educational interventions on the completeness of antibiotic prescriptions at Causeway Hospital surgical unit.

Inpatient drug prescription charts were audited to monitor the completeness of antibiotic prescriptions on the surgical unit. Two educational interventions were implemented, with a subsequent prospective re-audit carried out.

The completion of (1) "Stop date/Review date", (2) "What infection are you treating?", (3) "Cultures sent?", (4) "Printed name", (5) "Professional number", and (6) "Bleep number" fields within the inpatient drug charts increased noticeably in the re-audit. A paired t test, comparing all of the initial audit completion proportions with the re-audit completion proportions, demonstrated a statistically significant improvement (p < 0.05).

Educational interventions led to an improvement in the completeness of antibiotic prescriptions. This highlights the important role that continued audit and education play in the promotion of antimicrobial stewardship.