Improving Antimicrobial Prescribing Practices in the Neonatal ICU

Antimicrobial stewardship can improve the safety and quality of healthcare, reduce antimicrobial resistance, and reduce healthcare costs. However, the optimal strategies for the NICU population are unknown and few studies have evaluated the impact of stewardship in this population. To determine if 3 randomly assigned bundles of stewardship interventions would reduce overall and inappropriate antimicrobial use in the NICU. The investigators hypothesized that the bundle using all three interdisciplinary antimicrobial stewardship strategies (education, computer decision support and prescriber audit and feedback) would more effectively reduce overall and inappropriate antimicrobial use compared to usual care. A pre-post intervention study (one baseline year without interventions - May 1, 2009 - April 30, 2010, followed by two years of interventions - May 1, 2010 - April 30, 2012) was performed in 4 academically affiliated, level III NICUs. The sites were randomly assigned to usual care, one intervention, two interventions, or three interventions.