Abstract

ARTEAGA-LIVIAS, Kovi; PANDURO-CORREA, Vicky; SALVATIERRA, Juan Francisco  and  DAMASO-MATA, Bernardo. Appropiate antimicrobial agent prescriptions in the internal medicine services of a public hospital in Peru. Acta méd. Peru [online]. 2016, vol.33, n.4, pp.275-281. ISSN 1728-5917.

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the appropiate antimicrobial agent prescription in the internal medicine service of a Peruvian public hospital. Materials and methods: This is an observational and descriptive crosssectional study. We collected data from medical records of patients over 16 years of age who were hospitalized in medicine wards, received antimicrobial therapy, and were discharged between January and February 2014. Results: Of 358 medical records of patients discharged from January 01st to February 28th, 2014, 198 records were assessed (55.3%), which corresponded to patients who had received some kind of antibiotic therapy. The most common diagnoses were UTI, CAP, cellulitis, and diabetic foot. The antimicrobial agents most frequently used were ceftriaxone, clindamycin, ciprofloxacin and ceftazidime. Nearly two thirds (63.6%) of all antimicrobial agents used had one or more defects in their prescription. The most common defects were prolonged duration of therapy, the indication did not correlate with the diagnosis, and many combinations of agents were inadequate. There were no statistically significant differences between prescriptions when comparing different medicine wards and the different infectious diseases that were treated, except UTI. Conclusions: Antimicrobial agent prescription in several medicine services was inadequate, in higher rates compared to other studies performed in different countries and regions.

Keywords : Anti-infective agents; Drug resistance, microbial; Inappropriate prescribing; Patients’ rooms; Health services.