Adela Vasili1, Zahide Sulejmani1, Kestrina Alabaku3, Miljana Nika2, Silva Bino1,2
1Institute of Public Health, Tirana, Albania;
2Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine, Tirana, Albania;
3University Medical Center “Mother Theresa”, Tirana, Albania.
Introduction: Point Prevalence Surveys of antimicrobial use (AMU) and healthcare-associated infections (HAI) are well established surveillance methods for monitoring AMU and HAI in hospitals.
Objectives: The scopes were to have quantified estimates of the prevalence rates of the main HAIs, the main bacteria responsible and resistance levels, but also to evaluate the practices in the antibiotics prescription.
Methods: The PPS will follow the standardized protocol and methodology devised by ECDC. Point prevalence survey of Health association infection and antimicrobial use was carried out according to a standardized methodology developed by the ECDC in Albania providing acute health care in May 2019.
Results: Of a total of 648 patients in the survey, 66% of them received at least one antimicrobial agent. Of 428 patients, 54.2% received one antimicrobial agent, 35.5% received two and 10.3% received three or more antimicrobial agents. Antimicrobials were administered parenteral in 96.6% of cases and in 3.4% orally. The reason for antimicrobial use was documented in the patient’s medical records for 14% of prescriptions. The prevalence of patients receiving treatment for a hospital infection was 5.7%. The prevalence of patients receiving surgical prophylaxis was 23.3 %. During the study, a high consumption of antimicrobials was observed, mainly of the other β-lactam group.
Conclusion: This survey was the first conducted in the country. It is important setting-up a tailored antimicrobial stewardship program in each hospital. The challenge remains reinforcement of infection prevention and the medical bacteriology lab capacity by offering antimicrobial susceptibility testing to monitor prescription.
Keywords: antimicrobial use, hospital, infection prevention.