Assessment of core capacities for antimicrobial stewardship practices in indian hospitals: Report from a multicentric initiative of global health security agenda

Introduction

Antimicrobial-resistant HAI (Healthcare associated infection) are a global challenge due to their impact on patient outcome. Implementation of antimicrobial stewardship programmes (AMSP) is needed at institutional and national levels. Assessment of core capacities for AMSP is an important starting point to initiate nationwide AMSP. We conducted an assessment of the core capacities for AMSP in a network of Indian hospitals, which are part of the Global Health Security Agenda-funded work on capacity building for AMR-HAIs.

Subjects and Methods

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's core assessment checklist was modified as per inputs received from the Indian network. The assessment tool was filled by twenty hospitals as a self-administered questionnaire. The results were entered into a database. The cumulative score for each question was generated as average percentage. The scores generated by the database were then used for analysis.

Results and Conclusion

The hospitals included a mix of public and private sector hospitals. The network average of positive responses for leadership support was 45%, for accountability; the score was 53% and for key support for AMSP, 58%. Policies to support optimal antibiotic use were present in 59% of respondents, policies for procurement were present in 79% and broad interventions to improve antibiotic use were scored as 33%. A score of 52% was generated for prescription-specific interventions to improve antibiotic use. Written policies for antibiotic use for hospitalised patients and outpatients were present on an average in 72% and 48% conditions, respectively. Presence of process measures and outcome measures was scored at 40% and 49%, respectively, and feedback and education got a score of 53% and 40%, respectively. Thus, Indian hospitals can start with low-hanging fruits such as developing prescription policies, restricting the usage of high antibiotics, enforcing education and ultimately providing the much-needed leadership support.

MRSA: the leading pathogen of orthopedic infection in a tertiary care hospital, South India

Background

The rate of infection is high and heterogeneous in developing countries. This study aimed to find the rate and pattern of infection in a tertiary care hospital with a goal to improve the infection control practices.

Methods

The study was conducted in the orthopedic units of a multispecialty teaching hospital. Medical records of major orthopedic surgery adult patients without immunosuppression state were included. The bacterial culture report of the wound swabs were noted over a period of one year. The bacterial culture testing was performed by a recommended method.

Results

Among 2,249 orthopedic surgery patients, 83.7% were males, 49.1% had open wounds during admission and 32.2% patients were infected. Majority (64.2%) of the injuries were in the lower limb with 19.4% patients having undergone multiple surgeries during hospitalization. A total of 946 pathogens were grown from 725 specimens. Staphylococcus aureus was the maximum (48.4%) followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (26.3%) and E coli (16.7%). Among them, 57.3% were Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and was the leading pathogen causing infection among orthopedic patients.

Conclusion

MRSA infection was high. Consequent to this, an interventional program entitled ‘Extended Infection Control Measures' was designed to reduce the burden of infection.