Antibiotics Prescription Pattern and their Financial Burden before and after Intervention in Traumatic Injuries

Abstract

Background: Antibiotics contribute to a lot of patients’ treatment. However, improper prescription and wasteful use of antibiotics may lead to various side effects or complications such as medicinal resistance and lack of treatment, resulting in an excessive financial burden. Objectives: The present study aimed to compare antibiotics prescription pattern and their financial burden before and after intervention based on prophylactic antibiotics guidelines in traumatic surgical sections. Methods: This analytical and cross-sectional study was conducted in 2018 on patients undergoing surgery in 4 general, urology, neurosurgery, and orthopedics surgery sections. The sample consisted of 464 patients with traumatic injuries. A researcher-made questionnaire was used as a principal instrument for gathering data. The data was analysed using SPSS (version 21). Results: The accordance of dose, method and kind of prescribed antibiotics with the instructions and guidelines after intervention increased to 29, 5.1 and 28.8%, respectively. There was a significant relationship between dose, method, and kind of prescribed antibiotic before and after the intervention (p <0.05). The financial burden of prescribed antibiotics before and after the intervention was 56400480 and 52789290 IRR, respectively. Conclusion: Based on the results, the intervention was effective in accordance with dose, method and kind of prescribed antibiotics. Also, financial burden reduced by 6.4% after the intervention. Continuous monitoring of antibiotic prescription based on instructions, training instructions of prophylaxis antibiotics to physicians, and infectious monitoring committee meetings can prevent irrational prescriptions and reduce the excessive financial burden on society, government and insurance organizations.