Hospital antibiotic management in Poland--results of the ABS maturity survey of the ABS International group.
BACKGROUND
The increasing incidence of antibiotic resistance is a serious worldwide problem, as underlined by European Union documents. The project ABS International has been appointed to identify strengths and weaknesses of hospitals with regard to issues related to antibiotic policy.


METHODS
The questionnaire "ABS hospital mature" was developed within the study to analyze the ABS-related maturities in nine member states of the EU. Several fields of antibiotic strategy in hospitals were explored. In Poland the questionnaire was sent to over 100 hospitals and the responses were delivered to the National Medicines Institute (the project representative in Poland) via the internet.


RESULTS
The hospitals involved represented three referral levels according to services provided. Within the hospital, the questionnaire was filled out by a microbiologist or an infectious disease specialist. Within the examined fields there were no serious differences between the referral levels. Microbial diagnostics obtained the highest score, whereas "antibiotic-related relationships" and "antibiotic-related personnel development" ranked lowest. Maturity in the field of the antibiotic strategy differs among Polish hospitals. The highest score in the general assessment was assigned to hospitals at secondary referral level. Knowledge on issues of antibiotic resistance and microbiological services and procedures obtained the highest score but its implementation was not sufficient.


CONCLUSIONS
Results suggest a need to increase the number of specialists in antibiotic usage and policy, and to improve collaboration within and between hospitals.
National Medicines Institute, Warsaw, Poland.
Anna
A
Olczak-Pienkowska
Beata
B
Mazinska
Tomasz
T
Ozorowski
Waleria
W
Hryniewicz
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D006761:Hospitals / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D011044:Poland / Q000453:epidemiology; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents