Rationalization of antibiotics prescribing, King Khalid University Hospital experience

Antibiotics, as a group of drugs is the most expensive group item, in any hospital budget. Therefore, any effort to rationalize prescribing and economize drug's expenditure should include, antibiotics. Several antibiotics are marketed almost daily, a matter that is not only confusing but rather very difficult to keep track of especially for formulary maintenance. The variety in antibiotics definitely gives the practitioner a wide range of drugs to select. However, the ad lib use of antibiotics is not usually associated with more budget only, but it will lead to development of resistance, and makes future treatment with antibiotics very difficult. At King Khalid University Hospital, the first step in rationalization was to assess the size of the problem. Therefore, the Clinical Pharmacy group in the department of the Pharmacy Services, carried out a number of Drug Use Evaluation Studies (DUE). The main objective was to asses the rational of antibiotics prescribing. The finding of the studies, confirmed our concern regarding the inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics. The result of implementing an antibiotics' rationalization system for prescribing was very rewarding.