Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) programs can decrease non-optimal use of antibiotics in hospital settings. There are limited data on AMS programs in burn and chronic wound centers in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). A post-prescription review and feedback (PPRF) program was implemented in three hospitals in Nepal with a focus on wound and burn care. A total of 241 baseline and 236 post-intervention patient chart data were collected from three hospitals. There was a significant decrease in utilizing days of therapy per 1000 patient days (DOT/1000 PD) of penicillin (p = 0.02), aminoglycoside (p < 0.001), and cephalosporin (p = 0.04). Increases in DOT/1000 PD at post-intervention were significant for metronidazole (p < 0.001), quinolone (p = 0.01), and other antibiotics (p < 0.001). Changes in use of antibiotics varied across hospitals, e.g., cephalosporin use decreased significantly at Kirtipur Hospital (p < 0.001) and Pokhara Academy of Health Sciences (p = 0.02), but not at Kathmandu Model Hospital (p = 0.59). An independent review conducted by infectious disease specialists at the Henry Ford Health System revealed significant changes in antibiotic prescribing practices both overall and by hospital. There was a decrease in mean number of intravenous antibiotic days between baseline (10.1 (SD 8.8)) and post-intervention (8.8 (SD 6.5)) (t = 3.56; p < 0.001), but no difference for oral antibiotics. Compared to baseline, over the 6-month post-intervention period, we found an increase in justified use of antibiotics (p < 0.001), de-escalation (p < 0.001), accurate documentation (p < 0.001), and adherence to the study antibiotic prescribing guidelines at 72 h (p < 0.001) and after diagnoses (p < 0.001). The evaluation data presented provide evidence that PPRF training and program implementation can contribute to hospital-based antibiotic stewardship for wound and burn care in Nepal.

Introduction: Lack of compliance and unjustified antibiotic prescriptions has resulted in increasing bacterial resistance and is proving as a major challenge in the management of infections. Knowing the commonly isolated uropathogens and their antimicrobial susceptibility is beneficial in planning treatment protocols.Methods: A retrospective review of records of patients with urinary tract infection from January 2012 to December 2016 was conducted at Kathmandu Model Hospital. All patients who were diagnosed as having culture positive urinary tract infection in medical ward of Kathmandu Model Hospital during 5 years period were analyzed for demographic data, prevalence of organism and antibiotic susceptibility patterns.Results: A total of 315 samples were culture positive. The majority of bugs were gram negative E.coli (48.57%) followed  by multi-drug resistant E.coli (28.89%).  The other major pathogens were E. faecalis (6.03%), S. epidermidis (4.44%), K. pneumoniae (4.13%), respectively. The highest level of sensitivity in first line antibiotics was seen in nitrofurantoin (84.9%), whereas least sensitivity was shown by amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (21%). Similarly, in second line antibiotics, highest sensitivity was seen in tetracycline (100%), imipenem (91.9%) and least to meropenem (49.2%). Ceftazidime is mostly (93.3%) resistant antibiotics among uropathogens. All the third line antibiotics such as polymyxin B, tigecycline and colistin were 100% sensitive to all our isolates.Conclusions: Nitrofurantoin may be an appropriate choice for initial empirical therapy of urinary tract infection. Similarly, the multi-drug resistant E.coli is increasing but it can be tailored if antibiotics are used appropriately on the basis of susceptibility data.

Key Clinical MessageNSAIDs may be rare but an important cause of urticarial which should not be missed.AbstractThe aspirin and urticaria correlation has not been fully understood. The pharmacological inference is suspected to be the diversion of arachidonic acid metabolism. Aspirin sensitivity can aggravate preexisting chronic urticaria and in some instances causes acute urticaria. We report a case of a 53‐year‐old male, recently diagnosed with a stroke, who presented with complaints of multiple rashes over the trunk and upper extremities with aspirin. NSAIDs induced urticarial are usually neglected by physicians during diagnosis.