Preferred Abstract (Original):
Objective: No studies were carried out in Palestine to investigate the
prescribed antimicrobial agents in hospitalized pediatric patients. The objective
of this study was to evaluate and therapeutically analyze the pattern of
parenteral antimicrobial prescriptions among pediatric patients in Al-Watani
Government Hospital in Palestine. Such audit will be of great value to clinicians
and health policy makers. Material and Methods: Data on antimicrobial
prescribing were collected for 30 consecutive days for all pediatric patients
admitted to Al-Watani government hospital. Data on antimicrobial prescribing
were entered and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS)
program. Analysis was done for age, sex, diagnosis, site of infection, number of
antimicrobial agents given, how many times the drug regimen has been changed
and the frequency of individual drug use. Results: Three hundred and forty
pediatric patients were admitted to Al-Watani government hospital during the
study period. Gastroenteritis was the most common cause of hospitalization,
while upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) was the most common cause of
parenteral antimicrobial agent administration. Two hundred and ten (61.8%)
patients received parenteral antimicrobial agents while 16 (4.7%) received both
parenteral and oral antimicrobial agents. Single antimicrobial agent was
prescribed for (50.6%) patients. Cefuroxime was the main single antimicrobial 192 “Pattern of Parenteral Antimicrobial Prescription among ......”
agent used; it was administered to 70/226 (31%) patients. Conclusion:
Treatment patterns used for most patients were nearly according to current
empiric therapeutic recommendations. However, improving the availability of
rapid diagnostic methods to differentiate between viral and bacterial infections
is suggested to reduce empiric therapy numbers by antimicrobial agents so as to
decrease chance for drug resistance.