Abstract
Infection control team (ICT) monitoring is considered an active approach to manage infection in hospitals. The ICT was formed in August 2004 at our hospital, and supportive measures for the appropriate use of antimicrobial agents were gradually implemented. One of these measures was the ICT antimicrobial agent monitoring program (round) initiated in May 2010. The effectiveness of the round was studied in 265 of 387 cases between May 2010 and March 2013 without death or discharge at less than 3 days after the round without laboratory data or chart. These cases were divided into change, stop, and continuance groups. Changes in white blood cell (WBC) count, C–reactive protein (CRP), and body temperature (BT) were analyzed between and after the rounds. CRP in the stop group showed a statistically significant reduction, and WBC count and BT in the stop group exhibited declining trends. WBC count, CRP, and BT in the change and continuance groups showed statistically significant reductions. Although there were deteriorating cases of microbial substitution or underlying disease, recommended treatment by the ICT was assumed to be effective because of the absence of infection ingravescence. As a result, the round is predictably effective for appropriate use of antimicrobial agents and infectious disease therapy by controlling prolonged administration: furthermore, the round can decide on changes in appropriate dose or de-escalation. Based on this finding, we recommend interventions on the appropriate use of high-quality antimicrobial agents to continuously support effective treatment for infectious diseases.
