Surveillance of antimicrobials use in neonatal hospitals with alternative DDD methods

One of the most common problems in neonatal hospitals is the choice of metrics of drugs usage in neonatology, especially use of antibiotics. This study represents our experience in quantifying antibiotic use in a Level-III neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) implementing two methods: days of therapy (DOT) and length of therapy (LOT). Our objective was to quantify antibiotic use by most common metrics of Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs in NICUs of Europe, USA and Canada in order to standardize antibiotic use measures in Russian neonatal hospitals. The study included analysis of medical records for infants who were treated in two NICUs in 2014. Our study demonstrated the suitability of the method for pharmacological monitoring and Antimicrobial Stewardship Program in neonatal hospitals despite some limitations. It permits to quantify and compare all antibiotic use and antibiotic prescription rate between departments and different neonatal hospitals.