Pattern and Quality of Antimicrobial Prescribing in a Nigerian Tertiary Hospital: Report of a Longitudinal Surveillance Cautioning on Increasing Threats to Antimicrobial Resistance
Longitudinal surveillance shows high antimicrobial use in hospitalized patients, indicating rising resistance risks.
Key Points
High antimicrobial prevalence of 79.8% in hospitalized patients was recorded over five years, signaling potential resistance concerns.
The most common route of administration for antimicrobials was intravenous at 75.9%, highlighting prescribing trends across different patient populations.
Polypharmacy, with multiple antibiotics prescribed for single diagnoses, affected 57.1% of patients, raising quality of care concerns.
Inadequate documentation of prescription indications and lack of guidelines emphasized the need for systemic interventions in antimicrobial management.