Automated surveillance of antimicrobial consumption in intensive care, northern Sweden: an observational case study

Background The digitalization of information systems allows automatic measurement of antimicrobial consumption (AMC), helping address antibiotic resistance from inappropriate drug use without compromising patient safety. Objectives Describe and characterize a new automated AMC surveillance service for intensive care units (ICUs), with data stratified by referral clinic and linked with individual patient risk factors, disease severity, and mortality. Methods An automated service collecting data from the electronic medical record was developed, implemented, and validated in a healthcare region in northern Sweden. We performed an observational study from January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2021, encompassing general ICU care for all ≥18-years-olds in a catchment population of 270000 in secondary care and 900000 in tertiary care. We used descriptive analyses to associate ICU population characteristics with AMC outcomes over time, including days of therapy (DOT), length of therapy, defined daily doses, and mortality. Results There were 5608 admissions among 5190 patients with a median age of 65 (IQR 48-75) years, 41.2% females. The 30-day mortality was 18.3%. Total AMC was 1177 DOTs in secondary and 1261 DOTs per 1000 patient days and tertiary care. AMC varied significantly among referral clinics, with the highest total among 810 general surgery admissions in tertiary care at 1486 DOTs per 1000 patient days. Case-mix effects on the AMC were apparent during COVID-19 waves highlighting the need to account for case-mix. Patients exposed to more than three antimicrobial drug classes ( N = 242) had a 30-day mortality rate of 40.6%, with significant variability in their expected rates based on admission scores. Conclusion We introduce a new service and instructions for automating local ICU-AMC data collection. The versatile long-term ICU-AMC metrics presented, covering patient factors, referral clinics and mortality outcomes, are expected to be beneficial in refining antimicrobial drug use. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13756-024-01424-2.