Objective To investigate the problems in the usage of
antimicrobial agents in a hospital and provide guidance for the rational
use of
antimicrobial agents in clinic. Methods Antimicrobial usage in patients (patients with tuberculosis were excluded) who were discharged from hospital in December, 2002 were analysed retrospectively by medical record reviewing. Results Seven hundred and nine of 970 discharged patients ( 73.09%) used antimicrobial agents, 41.61% were for preventive administration; 360 ( 50.78%) patients used only 1 kind of antimicrobial agent, 72 patients ( 10.16%) used at least 4 kinds of antimicrobial agents. The commonly used antimicrobial agents were penicillins, quinolones, anti-anaerobic agents and the third generation cephalosporins; 58.54% of patients used antimicrobial agents for less than 7 days, and 15.37% for more than 14 days. Samples from only 5.36% of patients receiving antimicrobial agents were performed antimicrobial
susceptibility test. Conclusion Some patients used antimicrobial agents irrationally, detection rate of samples for antimicrobial susceptibility test was low, the usage of antimicrobial agents should be paid attention.