Inapropriate use of antibiotics effective against gram positive microorganisms despite restrictive antibiotic policies in ICUs: a prospective observational study

Gram-positive spectrum antibiotics such as vancomycin, teicoplanin, daptomycin, and linezolid are frequently used in empirical treatment combinations in critically ill patients. Such inappropriate and unnecessary widespread use, leads to sub-optimal utilisation. However they are covered by the antibiotics restriction programme. This prospective observational study, evaluates gram-positive anti-bacterial utilisations in intensive care units (ICUs) with various evaluation criteria, to determine the frequency of inappropriate usage and the intervention targets required to ensure optimum use.

This clinical study was conducted prospectively between 01.10.2018 and 01.10.2019 in the medical and surgical ICUs of Gazi University Faculty of Medicine Hospital, Turkey. The total bed capacity was 55. Patients older than 18 years and who were prescribed gram-positive spectrum antibiotics (vancomycin, teicoplanin, linezolid, and daptomycin) were included. Patients under this age or immunosuppressed patients (neutropenic,- HIV-infected patients with hematologic or solid organ malignancies) were not included in the study. During the study period, 200 treatments were evaluated in 169 patients. The demographic and clinical features of the patients were recorded. Besides observations by the clinical staff, the treatments were recorded and evaluated by two infectious diseases specialists and two clinical pharmacists at 24-h intervals from the first day to the last day of treatment.

SPSS software for Windows, (version 17, IBM, Armonk, NY) was used to analyse the data. Categorical variables were presented as number and percentage, and non-categorical variables were presented as mean ± standard deviation.

It was found that inappropriate gram-positive antibiotic use in ICUs was as high as 83% in terms of non-compliance with the selected quality parameters. Multivariate analysis was performed to evaluate the factors associated with inappropriate antibiotic use, increased creatinine levels were found to increase the risk of such use.

In spite of the restricted antibiotics programme, inappropriate antibiotic use in ICUs is quite common. Thus, it is necessary to establish local guidelines in collaboration with different disciplines for the determination and follow-up of de-escalation of such use and optimal treatment doses.