Point-prevalence study of antimicrobial use in public hospitals in southern Sri Lanka identifies opportunities for improving prescribing practices.

Sheng T, Wijayaratne GB, Dabrera TM, Drew RJ, Nagahawatte A, Bodinayake CK, Kurukulasooriya R, Østbye T, Nagaro KJ, De Silva C, Ranawakaarachchi H, Sudarshana AT, Anderson DJ, Woods CW, Tillekeratne LG. Point-prevalence study of antimicrobial use in public hospitals in southern Sri Lanka identifies opportunities for improving prescribing practices. Infection control and hospital epidemiology. 2019 Feb;40(40). 224-227. PMID: 30522538 [PubMed] PMCID: PMC6353688 NIHMSID: NIHMS998300.

A point-prevalence study of antimicrobial use among inpatients at 5 public hospitals in Sri Lanka revealed that 54.6% were receiving antimicrobials: 43.1% in medical wards, 68.0% in surgical wards, and 97.6% in intensive care wards. Amoxicillin-clavulanate was most commonly used for major indications. Among patients receiving antimicrobials, 31.0% received potentially inappropriate therapy.