Are United States hospitals following national guidelines for the analysis and presentation of cumulative antimicrobial susceptibility data?

The National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards recently published guidelines for analysis and presentation of cumulative antimicrobial susceptibility test data (antibiograms). We sought to determine how well US hospitals already adhere to standards for antibiogram compilation, and to examine the relationship between hospital characteristics and guideline adherence. We surveyed laboratory directors at 670 hospitals and examined 3 guideline criteria: compilation of an antibiogram, annual updating, and distribution to infection control staff and medical staff yearly; 494 surveys were returned (74%).