Objective: The first objective of this work was to examine the services provided by six drug information centers (DICs) in Alexandria, Egypt. The second objective was to evaluate the quality of the replies to the drug information query. The third objective was to assess the conceptual need of DICs from community pharmacists, other health care professionals and the general public. Methods:This study was conducted through three stages. Stage I was a field survey to assess predefined parameters in the current DICs in Alexandria. Stage II was a retrospective cross-sectional study to assess the quality of the drug information replies through an external expert review process. Stage III was a population survey and thematic analysis using questionnaires and interview recording.Results: Activities of DICs include: DIR answering service (100%), adverse drug reaction reporting (100%), issuing bulletins (83.3%), education (83.3%), drug use evaluation (50%) and participation in P and T committees (33.3%). The most frequent question categories asked were dosing, side effects, treatment guidelines and drug interactions. Half of the DICs were affiliated with hospitals; however, a general lacking confidence level of these DICs on the professionalism and the impact on patient care for the DIC services provided was identified. There was an obvious problem in formatting the ultimate question in a question format rather than a sentence format in all DICs. The most accurately answered request was adverse drug reactions. All surveyed groups considered that it is very important to have a DIC accessible to the community free of charge. Conclusion:It is necessary to establish an university-based DIC to incorporate training, education and research into the existing services. A DIC network with definitive standards of services in the future should provide safe and effective quality-assured pharmaceutical care to meet the needs and expectations of the community and improve its delivery to the public. The results and recommendations of this study can be inspired and generalized to other developing countries that have similar health systems as in Egypt.

Background: Antimicrobial stewardship (ASP) aims to stopping or slowing emergence of antimicrobial resistant strains. After initiation of National action plan on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Egypt, there were several initiatives by hospitals to implement ASP but no formal assessment was performed.Objective & setting: This study attempts to assess the extent of ASP application in different Egyptian hospitals; stewardship knowledge & implementation in selected hospitals. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess stewardship knowledge & implementation in selected hospitals in Egypt. Main outcome measure: Core elements of the survey included Hospital Description, ASP committee, ASP Activities (including training, restriction methods and outcome measurement), reporting antibiotic use, antibiogram, information technology (IT) support, ASP restriction methods and ASP Future ApplicationResults: The study included many aspects regarding hospital description; all types of hospitals were involved. Most of hospitals (61.8%) implemented an ASP program while 38.2% did not; 71.4 % of the later are planning for future Antimicrobial stewardship application. 22 hospitals (48.5%) reported having facility-specific antibiogram on regular basis. 13 hospitals (37.1%) reported receiving antimicrobial reports on regular basis. 15 hospitals (42.9%) reported having one or more computer programs already in use. The monitoring activities included resistance patterns, infection rates, length of stay, mortality rate & reported adverse drug reactions. Only 20% of the hospitals included in this study reported having an ASP training program. Conclusion: Egyptian hospitals have a fairly good implementation, improvements need to include IT support programs, healthcare members cooperation, monitoring outcomes & infectious disease (ID) consultations.