Improving the appropriateness of antibiotic prescription in hospitals: a pilot study assessing the effectiveness of an infectious diseases specialist's consultation programme

Antimicrobial treatment is one of the therapies most widely prescribed to hospitalised patients but it is widely accepted that the quality of prescription is often inadequate. Abuse and misuse of antibiotics invariably lead to the emergence and spread of antimicrobial-resistant microorganisms as well as to increased adverse events and health-related costs. Antimicrobials are unique drugs, being the only class of drug therapy that affects not only the patient to whom it is prescribed but also other current and future patients, by influencing the bacterial ecosystem. We performed a study to determine whether implementation of an infectious diseases specialist's consultation programme improves the appropriateness of antibiotic prescription in hospital, leading to reduction of overall costs for antimicrobial drugs.