Evaluation of Meropenem Utilization in Intensive Care Unit in Sudan

Abstract

Background: Antimicrobial agents are one of the frequently utilized drug classes in anIntensive Care Unit setting (ICU). Objective: was to evaluate the meropenem utilization among Sudanese patients in the ICU in military hospital. Method: A retrospective study was carried out in the ICU in military hospital during the period from September 2014 to February 2015.A well designed pretested questionnaire was used to collect the data. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS software version 17. Results: A total of 135 patients' files were encountered. The results showed that, no culture was done for any patient before meropenem used. Overall 80% of meropenem was prescribed empirically, Out of the patients who's having meropenem, 7.41% were diagnosed pneumonias and 12.59% septicemia. Creatinine clearance was ranged from 50 to137 ml/min in a total 40.8% of patients used meropenem, so they didn't need dose adjustment, while 59.2 % of them needed dose adjustment since their creatinine clearance was range from 50 to 10 ml/min. The therapeutic response was high 65.2% among the patients who using meropenem, while only 14.8% of them were not cured by this antibiotic. The dose was 0.5-1 gm meropenem twelve hourly for most of patients. Conclusion: Meropenem use in ICU appears to be inconsistent with evidence based assessment criteria. The most evident inappropriateness was observed in empirical therapy. The study also detected other potential problematic areas where concordance with standard guidelines is yet to be achieved. Continuous medical education, functional drug and therapeutic committees and regular drug utilization evaluation programs could help in accomplishing the milestone of rational medication use.

Retrospective drug utilization review of meropenem and role of infectious disease pharmacist in specialized cancer care hospital

“…As in previous study, 44 this study also revealed that meropenem was used empirically for patients without culture. It means that meropenem was utilized based on physician experience or decision, but not on culture based.…”

Evaluation of Antibiotics and Clinical Outcomes along with Various Other Factors in Critically Ill Intensive Care Unit Patients

“…The demographic characteristics of all the patients are provided below (Table 1). (0.5%), tetracyclines 7 (1.8%) and tigecycline 4 (1.0%) patients [8,9]. DDI were analyzed or categorized using MED SCAPE classification.…”

Impact of Irrational Use of Antibiotics Among Patients in the Intensive Care Unit on Clinical Outcomes in Sudan

“…19,20 The current study finding was higher than previous studies conducted among ICU patients in Sudan and India, documenting that antibiotics were prescribed to all study patients. 21,22 This higher rate of prescribing empirical antibiotics could be explained by the fact that the health-care practitioner was not concordant with standard guidelines in the patient's therapy.…”

“…21 Also, our findings disagree with a previous study in an ICU in Sudan, which showed that CST was not done for all patients. 22 This discrepancy could be explained by the socio-economic situation in developing countries, which leads to insufficient health services and a low rate of CST use.…”