Reduction of antimicrobial treatment time in intensive care units in Fortaleza, Brazil

Objective: To evaluate the application of the Antimicrobial (ATM) treatment time reduction strategy in Intensive Care Units (ICU) in an Antimicrobial Stewardship Program (ASP). Method: This is a descriptive and cross-sectional study, carried out in two ICU of a university hospital in Fortaleza, Brazil, from January/2017 to January/2019. Adult patients were included, accompanied by a pharmacist, and using ATM, in which the treatment time reduction strategy was applied. The evaluation of the strategy was made through the difference between the predicted time established at the beginning of the treatment and the effective days of use of each ATM. Results: Of the 100 patients included, 51.0 % were male and 64.0 % were elderly. The respiratory system was the most frequently affected by the infections (37.4 %) and the most prevalent classes of ATM were carbapenems (23.0 %) and glycopeptides (20.1 %). There was a decrease from 831 unnecessary days of antimicrobial therapy and from an average of 13.7 to 8.9 days of treatment. The greatest reductions in days were observed for meropenem, with 202 days reduced. The study also allowed the identification of associations between the reduction > 8 days of treatment and the variables length of stay > 22 days and patients in exclusive palliative care, and associations between hospital discharge and reductions of up to 7 days of therapy. Conclusions: The data obtained suggest that the presence of an ASP influences the practices of ATM use and its treatment time and emphasize the role of pharmaceutical professionals in these programs.