Evaluation of Antibiotic Administration in Surgical and Internal Pediatric Wards Compared to Standard Methods

Antibiotics help many patients to treat. But misadministration and wrong methods of taking them cause many side effects including drug resistance and treatment failure. This study was designed to assess antibiotic prescribing in hospitalized children in comparison with standard methods. In this study, 196 children admitted in surgical and internal wards in Alzahra hospitals in Isfahan received antibiotic, were studied. The collected data included age, sex, cause of hospitalization, indication, dosage, and duration of antibiotic. All information was extracted from patient records and their relative abundance ratio was measured by standard methods. Indication of drug usage and drug administration methods were adjusted completely to standards; the dosage and duration of therapy had less adjustment to standards. Mismatch in drug dosage in the studied wards could be due to lack of record weight of patients in their files. In addition, early discharge of patients due to their personal satisfaction or because of their family caused incomplete treatment period. It seems that educating nurses, patients, and their families can help to correct these problems.