Establishing a baseline for a national paediatric antimicrobial stewardship programme

Area of Science:

• Paediatric infectious diseases
• Antimicrobial stewardship
• Healthcare epidemiology

Background:

• Current antimicrobial stewardship programmes primarily target adult populations.
• There is a critical need for specialized paediatric antimicrobial stewardship to improve prescribing practices and patient safety.
• Paediatric populations require tailored approaches to antimicrobial use due to unique physiological and epidemiological factors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish a baseline understanding of antimicrobial prescribing patterns in Scottish paediatric inpatients.
• To identify key areas for quality improvement within paediatric antimicrobial prescribing.
• To inform the development of a national paediatric antimicrobial stewardship programme.

Main Methods:

• A national point prevalence survey of healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial prescribing was conducted in 2016.
• Data from 559 paediatric inpatients across Scotland were analyzed.
• Antimicrobial prescribing prevalence and characteristics were compared between specialist and acute hospital settings.

Main Results:

• The prevalence of antimicrobial use in paediatric inpatients was 35.4%.
• Community-acquired infections (47.1%) were the primary reason for prescribing, with clinical sepsis being the most common diagnosis.
• Gentamicin was the most frequently prescribed antimicrobial; prescribing was well-documented (86.5%) and largely compliant with local policy (92.9%).

Conclusions:

• National prevalence surveys provide valuable data for antimicrobial stewardship programme development.
• Significant differences in prescribing exist between specialist and acute paediatric hospital settings.
• The findings underscore the necessity for a targeted national paediatric antimicrobial stewardship programme to optimize antimicrobial use.