Implementation of treatment guidelines to support judicious use of antibiotic therapy.

Background And Objective: Judicious use of antibiotics is essential considering the growth of antimicrobial resistance and escalating costs in health care. This intervention study used treatment guidelines to improve antibiotic therapy by changing prescribing practice.

Methods: A before-after intervention study was performed in a 550-bed tertiary care teaching hospital in Switzerland, with an additional follow-up analysis 1 year later.

Electronic screening of medical records to detect inpatients at risk of drug-related problems.

Objective: The objective of the study is to develop and validate a screening tool for clinical pharmacists (CPs), comprising electronic queries (EQs) structured to identify inpatients at risk of drug-related problems (DRPs) [1].

Setting: Internal Medicine and Geriatric Units of the (multi-site) Hôpital du Valais.

Method: EQs, identifying patients with potential DRPs and/or those requiring a medication review were compared with a CP-conducted manual check of all electronic medical records (EMRs), during their standard activities.