Analysis of antibiotic usage in Bulgarian hospitals and development of antibiotic stewardship software solution to improve the implementation of local antibiotic stewardship policies

Abstract

AIM: Analysis of antimicrobials usage problems in Bulgarian hospitals and development of antibiotic stewardship software solution to improve implementation of local antibiotic stewardship policies and fight antimicrobial resistance (AMR) on a national level. BACKGROUND: Antimicrobial stewardship programs worldwide aim to optimize the use of antimicrobials. There are many studies proving the benefits of already implemented antibiotic stew¬ardships, but not many explaining the key features needed and steps required for implementation of software solutions for digital antibiotic stewardship programs for decision support and monitoring of antibiotic usage. METHODS: For the duration of 3 years the climate of antibiotic consumption in Bulgarian hospitals was thoroughly studied. An audit of the antibiotic usage in departments of abdominal surgery was performed by a team of clinical pharmacologists. Based on the identified gaps in the antibiotic stewardship policies implementation а software solution was built and implemented. Results: А software solution was built with the following key features - Information tool, Tool for decision support, Patient management tool, Decision Tree Builder Tool, Monitoring and Statistics Tool. The software was implemented in the everyday clinical practice of a surgical department. The stakeholders for a project of this nature were identified alongside the crucial need of interdisciplinary collaboration between departments. Conclusions: We created a useful software tool which is currently being used in a regional hospital in Bulgaria. The project won several Intel AI&ML potential awards and currently is collecting data to implement these technologies for a better impact in the global fight with AMR.

Keywords

• antimicrobials
• antibiotic stewardship
• AMR
• digital healthcare