Abstract
BACKGROUND: Rigorous antibiotic stewardship is advised by international societies to combat rising antibiotic resistance. A major component of these programs is the metric used for antibiotic consumption measurement. A method for standardized antimicrobial administration ratio (SAAR) is suggested by the Centre for Disease Control & Prevention-National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). OBJECTIVES: We applied the SAAR method to calculate antibiotic consumption in a tertiary care hospital in India. We also validated a limited sampling approach to calculate SAAR. METHOD: The prospective study was conducted in three medical intensive care units over a period of 12 months. Monthly antibiotic consumption was measured by the hospital electronic records. Limited sampling was performed by weekly bedside review of the antibiotic orders. Formulae for SAAR calculation were derived from the NHSN guide. SAAR obtained by electronic records and limited sampling were compared to validate this approach. RESULTS: SAAR was calculated as >1 for an Indian hospital (1.49 by electronic records and 1.43 by limited sampling approach). The difference between the two ratios was not statistically significant (P = .47). CONCLUSIONS: SAAR in our setting is 1.49, which is slightly higher than the NHSN benchmark. Antibiotic usage (AU) risk adjustment based on data from the NHSN might not be adequate for calculating SAAR for Indian hospitals. There is a need to perform AU risk factor analysis for Indian settings for better defining SAAR in Indian context. The limited sampling approach can be adapted for calculation of SAAR in settings with limited resources.