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New generic inpatient quality indicators (QIs) recently developed by a multidisciplinary international consensus group can be used to assess the quality of antibiotic use in the global setting, according to research published in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.
The Driving Reinvestment in Research and Development and Responsible Antibiotic Use (DRIVE-AB) research consortium had proposed a series of definitions “to distinguish between the assessment of quality and quantity of antibiotic use,” with the goal of reaching a consensus on a standard for “responsible antibiotic use.” The goal of the current paper was to develop generic QIs that could be used across most settings, including those that are socioeconomically diverse.
A systematic literature review was conducted to identify papers describing inpatient QIs for antibiotic use, and 70 potential generic QIs were identified. After being appraised by 25 international stakeholders with diverse backgrounds, 51 QIs were ultimately selected. Those with the highest relevance included that an antibiotic plan should be documented in the medical record when treatment was begun; testing for bacteriologic susceptibility needs to be documented in the medical record; local guidelines should be correlated with national ones but need to be adapted to local resistance patterns; an antibiotic stewardship program needs to be implemented at the healthcare facility; and allergy status needs to be accounted for when prescribing antibiotics.
These 51 generic QIs “cover a broad scale of themes for responsible inpatient antibiotic use,” wrote the authors, and “they can be used globally to guide the use of both current and newly developed antibiotics in the future.”
Reference
Monnier AA, Schouten J, Le Maréchal M, et al; on behalf of the DRIVE-AB WP1 group. Quality indicators for responsible antibiotic use in the inpatient setting: a systematic review followed by an international multidisciplinary consensus procedure. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2018;73(suppl_6):vi30-vi39.
