Prime Hospitals Antibiotics Stewardship Program to be presented at ECCMID 2019
Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 16 February 2019: Prime Hospital announced that the paper submitted on its unique experience in Antibiotics Stewardship Program (ASP) has been accepted to be presented at the upcoming European Conference of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2019), which is set to take place in Amsterdam, Netherlands, from April 13-16 this year. The event is a leading global event in the field of clinical microbiology and infectious diseases, which will bring together 12,000 participants this year.
The paper titled "Effectiveness of retrospective audit and feedback by utilizing hospital informatics as part of Antibiotic Stewardship Program on Ceftriaxone and fluoroquinolones consumption in the emergency department of a 100-bed private hospital in Dubai, UAE" has been authored by Dr. Dirar Abdallah, Consultant Internal Medicine, Head of ICU and Chair of ASP Program at Prime Hospital and a member of the UAE National ASP Committee, in collaboration with the emergency and IT departments.
The paper describes monitoring and effective reduction of the usage of certain classes of antibiotics called Ceftriaxone and Fluoroquinolones. If abused/overused/misused without clear indication, both these classes can lead to the development of resistant bacteria, which is emerging as a major global healthcare challenge causing deaths, morbidities and prolonged hospitalization, among many other hazards.
Dr. Jamil Ahmed, Managing Director of Prime Healthcare Group said: The ASP at Prime Hospital is designed to regulate the overuse of antibiotics, which can lead to resistant bacteria. The tool was developed through our electronic medical records (EMR) to monitor the use of all antibiotics in our hospital, with a special focus on above mentioned two categories of antibiotics prescribed by our emergency department physicians. We then educated our physicians to concentrate on prescribing the antibiotic only if indicated and to choose the right antibiotics according to the hospitals approved clinical best practice guidelines. These measures resulted in a dramatic 50-70 per cent decrease in the use of these antibiotics. We are confident that this significant reduction will have a positive impact on the rate of resistant bacteria in the near future.
