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. 2022 Oct;50(5):1273-1279.
doi: 10.1007/s15010-022-01807-w. Epub 2022 Apr 2.

Evaluating current practice and knowledge about antibiotic stewardship principles in paediatric tertiary hospitals to identify target areas for future teaching activities

Laura Kolberg  1 , Judith Buschbeck  2 , Annabelle Wagner  3 , Susanne Jonat  4 , Gerhard Wolf  5 , Jochen Peters  6 , Uta Behrends  7   8 , Maximilian Steinhauser  7 , Johannes Huebner  2   8 , Ulrich von Both  2   8
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Evaluating current practice and knowledge about antibiotic stewardship principles in paediatric tertiary hospitals to identify target areas for future teaching activities

Laura Kolberg et al. Infection. 2022 Oct.

Abstract

Purpose: Antibiotic exposure among hospitalized children is very high. With inappropriate antimicrobial use resulting in increased rates of antimicrobial resistance, the implementation of antibiotic stewardship programs is critically needed. This survey study aimed to identify current practice and knowledge about antibiotic stewardship and infection control among paediatricians in tertiary care paediatric hospitals in and around Munich, Germany.

Methods: A prospective cross-sectional study based on an anonymous questionnaire, structured into different sub-sections regarding antibiotic use, antimicrobial resistance, antibiotic stewardship and infection control, was conducted between 1st of May and 30th of June 2016 in five paediatric hospitals.

Results: In total, 111 paediatricians across all grades were eligible for participation. The overall proportion of correct answers for all sub-sections of the survey ranged from 54.1% correct answers in the antibiotic handling and bacterial resistance section to 72.9% correct answers in the hospital hygiene/infection control section. In general, knowledge across all categories was similar for junior doctors, middle-grade doctors or consultants. Advocating empiric use of narrow-spectrum instead of broad-spectrum antibiotics was considered to be the most difficult measure to implement in daily practice (36.9%). De-escalation from broad-spectrum empirical therapy to targeted treatment was considered the easiest measure to achieve (43.2%).

Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that principles of antimicrobial stewardship and aspects of hospital hygiene/infection control are not satisfactorily known among hospital-based paediatricians in and around Munich. We identified four important target areas for future educational interventions that should play a more prominent role in both pre- and postgraduate medical training.

Keywords: ASP; Antibiotic stewardship; Education; Germany; Paediatrics; Training.

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Conflict of interest statement

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest. All authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript. The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

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