Compliance to Guidelines in Prescribing Empirical Antibiotics for Individuals with Uncomplicated Urinary Tract Infection in a Primary Health Facility of Ghana, 2019-2021.

Increasing trends in antimicrobial resistance among uropathogens call for rational use of empirical antibiotics for managing uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTIs). In Ghana, standard treatment guidelines (STGs) for UTI recommend oral ciprofloxacin or cefuroxime for 5-7 days in females and 10-14 days in males. We conducted a cross-sectional audit using electronic medical records (EMR) to assess compliance to the STGs among adults (≥18 years) with uncomplicated UTIs diagnosed in a primary health facility between October 2019 and October 2021. Among 3717 patients, 71% were females and all had complete prescription details in the EMR. Of all the patients, 83% were prescribed empirical antibiotics, of whom 88% received oral ciprofloxacin or cefuroxime. Only 68% were prescribed antibiotics for the correct duration, which was significantly lower among males (10%) compared to females (90%). Among patients who received antibiotics, 60% were prescribed in line with the STGs. The results call for feedback to physicians about poor compliance to STGs with duration of antibiotic prescribed. Recommendations on 10-14 days duration of antibiotics for males needs to be reassessed and necessary amendments to STGs can be made. Leveraging the well-established EMR system, a real-time audit-feedback mechanism can be instituted to improve compliance with STGs.

Point Prevalence Survey of Antimicrobial Utilization in Ghana's Premier Hospital: Implications for Antimicrobial Stewardship.

The first comprehensive point prevalence survey at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) was performed as part of the 2019 Global Point Prevalence Survey (Global-PPS) on antimicrobials. The aim was to establish a PPS baseline for the whole hospital and to identify required stewardship interventions. The PPS was conducted over three days in June 2019 using the GLOBAL-PPS standardized method for surveillance of antimicrobial utilization in hospitals to evaluate antimicrobial prescribing. In all, 988 patients were admitted to 69 wards. Overall antimicrobial prevalence was 53.3%. More community-acquired infections (CAI) were treated empirically compared to health-care associated infections (94.0% vs. 86.1% respectively, p = 0.002). Main indications for prescribing antimicrobials were pneumonia (18.4%), skin and soft tissue infections (11.4%) and sepsis (11.1%). Among antimicrobials, systemic antibiotics accounted for 83.5%, of which amoxicillin with beta-lactam inhibitor (17.5%), metronidazole (11.8%) and ceftriaxone (11.5%) dominated. Guideline compliance was 89.0%. Stop/review dates were completed in 33.4% and documented reason was recorded in 53.0% of all prescriptions. If the findings in this PPS can be addressed antimicrobial stewardship at the KBTH stands to improve significantly.