title: Surveillance of antimicrobial use and antimicrobial resistance in United States hospitals: project ICARE phase 2. Project Intensive Care Antimicrobial Resistance Epidemiology (ICARE) hospitals.
abstract: The search for the means to understand and control the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance has become a public health priority. Project ICARE (Intensive Care Antimicrobial Resistance Epidemiology) has established laboratory-based surveillance for antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial use at a subset of hospitals participating in the National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance system. These data illustrate that for most antimicrobial-resistant organisms studied, rates of resistance were highest in the intensive care unit (ICU) areas and lowest in the outpatient areas. A notable exception was ciprofloxacin- or ofloxacin-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, for which resistance rates were highest in the outpatient areas. For most of the antimicrobial agents associated with this resistance, the rate of use was highest in the ICU areas, in parallel to the pattern seen for resistance. These comparative data on use and resistance among similar areas (i.e., ICU or other inpatient areas) can be used as a benchmark by participating hospitals to focus their efforts at addressing antimicrobial resistance.
authors.affiliation: Hospital Infections Program, National Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia 30333, USA. skf0@cdc.gov
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Fridkin
authors.forename: C D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Steward
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.forename: E R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Pryor
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: McGowan
authors.forename: L K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Archibald
authors.forename: R P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Gaynes
authors.forename: F C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Tenover
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology*; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents