Abstract
Abstract Background Improper use and prescription of antibiotics can cause many unwanted consequences and costs. Antibiotic stewardship is one of the most important global approaches to dealing with the risks of wrong antibiotic therapy. Objectives The present study purposed to evaluate the level of public hospitals adherence to the correct and appropriate implementation of antibiotic stewardship on the scale of international standards, in Hamadan, Iran. Methods The required information was collected using the antibiotic stewardship program assessment questionnaire prepared by American CDC, which includes 33 questions (in the form of 7 dimensions) to assess hospitals in terms of antibiotic stewardship activities. The respondents included people who were responsible for monitoring or directing the implementation of antibiotic stewardship in the respective hospitals. Data analysis included descriptive statistics analyzes for respondents' demographics, hospitals' characteristics, and the adherence to each item and dimension of the questionnaire. Results The number of beds in the studied hospitals was between 110 and 570. 86.7% of the respondents were women. Except for one person, the education of the rest of the respondents was in pharmacy or nursing. Regarding antibiotic stewardship, the two lowest levels of implementation were stated for the dimensions of “Education” (60%) and “Implement interventions to improve antibiotic use” (75%). The level of performance for “Senior Managers’ Commitment to Antibiotic Stewardship”, “Reporting the Antibiotic Consumption and Its Outputs”, and “Tracking Antibiotic Consumption and Its Outputs”, were equal to 86.7, 80, and 77% , in order. The highest score was 90%, which was obtained for the dimensions of “Accountability” and “Pharmacy expertise”. Conclusion Based on the results, in general, the need to strengthen antibiotic stewardship, especially in the areas of education, the implementation of interventions to improve the use of antibiotics, as well as the monitoring and reporting of antibiotic prescribing and its outputs, seem necessary.