title: Impact of informational feedback to clinicians on antibiotic-prescribing rates in a tertiary care hospital in Delhi.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Antimicrobial use has been associated with increasing antimicrobial resistance. There is an urgent need for judicious use of antimicrobials. Informational feedback has been shown to result in changes in behavioural practices of physicians in certain healthcare settings. We conducted this study to see if the passive informational feedback can reduce in antimicrobial usage in a tertiary care centre.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The study was undertaken to evaluate if the feedback to clinicians on their own antibiotic prescription results in any change in their antibiotic prescription habits.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was conducted at a tertiary care setting involving 33 units of different specialties. These units were split into 10 groups based on specialty and were allocated randomly to the control (16 units) and intervention (17 units) arms of the study. This study was a prospective intervention to assess the effect of prescribing feedback on clinical prescribing practices.
  
  
  METHODS
  In the intervention arm, information on resistance rates and antibiotic-prescribing patterns was provided to all doctors. Behavioural change was assessed by comparing baseline prescribing rates of each unit with prescribing rates after the intervention. In the control arm, only information on monthly resistance rates was provided.
  
  
  METHODS
  Change in the antimicrobial prescribing rates in the treatment group was assessed by using a Student's t-test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean antibiotic use for all the specialties was 189 DDDs/100BDs. The prospective intervention did not elicit any effect on the antibiotic prescribing practices of the physicians. Low prescribers continued to prescribe antibiotics at a low rate, and high prescribers continued to prescribe at a high rate.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In view of unfavourable results of passive intervention in the above study, active intervention may be more effective.
authors: Department of Clinical Microbiology and Immunology, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi, India.
authors: C
authors: C
authors: Wattal
authors: N
authors: N
authors: Goel
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Khanna
authors: S P
authors: SP
authors: Byotra
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Laxminarayan
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Easton
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005246:Feedback; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D011446:Prospective Studies; D062606:Tertiary Care Centers
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents