Use of antibiotics at hospitals in Stockholm: a benchmarking project using internet.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the internet way of feedback to prescribing physicians, providing data on antimicrobial use and to assess the applicability of the DU90% (i.e. Drug Utilisation 90%--the number of drugs accounting for 90% of the volume of usage in defined daily doses, (DDDs)) methodology in the hospital setting.


METHODS
Antimicrobial drug use was evaluated in all major departments in seven hospitals in Stockholm in the year 2000. All data were presented anonymously on www.janusinfo.org. Aggregate data on antimicrobial drug use were expressed as the number of DDDs and costs per 100 bed-days. We focused on the number of drugs accounting for 90% of the volume (DDD), including the level of adherence to guidelines. The chief physicians assessed this feedback by a questionnaire.


RESULTS
The number of DDDs/100 bed-days varied among different clinics and ranged from 39 to 57 (internal medicine) to 102 to 161 (infectious disease). The cost per 100 bed-days varied more than two-fold. The number of different antibiotics within the DU90% segment ranged from 9 to 13 (orthopaedic clinics) to 16 to 23 (infectious disease). According to the questionnaire, data were considered to be clearly presented and physicians would like to receive this kind of reports in the future, not only for antibiotics but also for other drugs.


CONCLUSIONS
Presenting physicians with aggregate data on drug use via internet could provide a stimulus for prescribing improvement.
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Division of Clinical Pharmacology, WHO Collaborating Centre for Drug Utilisation Research and Clinical Pharmacological Services, Karolinska Institute, Huddinge University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden. Ulf.Bergman@hs.se
Ulf
U
Bergman
Helena
H
Risinggård
Vera
V
Vlahović-Palcevski
Orjan
O
Ericsson
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D019985:Benchmarking / Q000379:methods*; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006761:Hospitals; D020407:Internet; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents