Ophthalmic Antimicrobial Prescribing in Australian Healthcare Facilities

Xin Fang; Noleen Bennett; Courtney Ierano; Rodney James; Karin Thursky

doi:10.3390/antibiotics11050647

Ophthalmic Antimicrobial Prescribing in Australian Healthcare Facilities

Antibiotics (Basel). 2022 May 12;11(5):647. doi: 10.3390/antibiotics11050647.

Authors

Xin Fang¹, Noleen Bennett¹, Courtney Ierano¹, Rodney James¹, Karin Thursky¹

Affiliation

¹ National Centre for Antimicrobial Stewardship, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia.

Abstract

The National Antimicrobial Prescribing Survey (NAPS) is a web-based, standardized tool, widely adopted in Australian healthcare facilities to assess the reasons for, the quantity of, and the quality of antimicrobial prescribing. It consists of multiple modules tailored towards the needs of a variety of healthcare facilities. Data regarding ophthalmological antimicrobial use from Hospital NAPS, Surgical NAPS, and Aged Care NAPS were analysed. In Hospital NAPS, the most common reasons for inappropriate prescribing were incorrect dose or frequency and incorrect duration. Prolonged duration was also common in Aged Care prescribing: about one quarter of all antimicrobials had been prescribed for greater than 6 months. All three modules found chloramphenicol to be the most prescribed antimicrobial with a high rate of inappropriate prescribing, usually for conjunctivitis.

Keywords: antimicrobial prescribing surveillance; antimicrobial resistance; antimicrobial stewardship; eye; ophthalmology; quality; safety; surgical prophylaxis.

Grants and funding

The delivery of the Australian NAPS programme was supported by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, the Australian Government’s Department of Health, and the Guidance Group, Royal Melbourne Hospital.