Point Prevalence Survey of Antimicrobial Prescription and Indicators in a Tertiary Healthcare Center in Southern Nigeria

Background: Antimicrobial stewardship programmes are interventions which have been developed to address irrational and inappropriate use particularly in health care centers. Antimicrobial stewardship programmes involve a set of activities which promote appropriate use of antimicrobials in terms of selection, dosing, route and duration of antimicrobial therapy.

Methods: A Point-prevalence survey (PPS) was organized in line with Global point prevalence patient-based protocol for PPS and antimicrobial use was carried out in the paediatrics department of a tertiary healthcare institution in southern Nigeria. A total of 66 inpatients on admission for at least 24hours and still on admission at 8am on the day of the survey were included in the study.

Results: The results show that 34 (51.50%) patients were on at least one antimicrobial drug and this included 19 (55.80%) males and 15 (44.20%) females. The highest proportion (n=15; 44%) of these patients were admitted in the children emergency ward while the least number (n=5; 14.7%) were found in children medical ward 1. The average age of patients on antimicrobials was 53 months. Thirty-four (51.50%) patients were on at least one antimicrobial drug and this included 19 (55.8%) males and 15 (44.2%) females. The three most prescribed antimicrobials were, ceftriaxone (23.88%), aminoglycoside gentamicin (20.90%), cefuroxime (16.42%) and Ceftazidime was the least common antibiotic prescribed (1.49%). Only 10.45 % were targeted therapy (based on microbiological results) while there was missing information for 10.45% of prescriptions.

Conclusion: The findings of the study shows that it is important to initiate antimicrobial stewardship programmes within our hospital to optimize antimicrobial use to improve patient care in the hospital.