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Background: Antithrombotic prophylaxis in hospitalised patients with SARS-CoV-2 acute infection has increased. Currently, most of the evidence relates to patients in intensive care units; however, there is little information on patients admitted to hospital wards and there is no consensus protocol on thromboprophylaxis during admission and after discharge., Objective: To assess the effectiveness of antithrombotic prophylaxis in patients admitted with COVID-19 and 30 days after discharge., Method: A prospective observational study was conducted of patients admitted with COVID-19 in which the hospital thromboprophylaxis protocol was applied, classifying the patients as having a standard or high risk of thrombosis. Pharmacists performed a daily follow-up and actively intervened during admission and at discharge. The main outcome measure was the global incidence of symptomatic venous thromboembolism (VTE) related to hospitalisation., Results: A total of 113 patients were included, 98.23% of whom were admitted to a hospital ward. The incidence of hospital-acquired VTE was 1.77%. In 75.22% of the subjects, thromboprophylaxis was adjusted to the protocol during admission. A total of 23 pharmaceutical interventions were conducted, with an adherence of 52.17%. At discharge, 94.28% of the patients who had no haemorrhage and ≥4 points on the Padua Prediction Score required thromboprophylaxis, aligning with the protocol. The global incidence of haemorrhagic events during the follow-up period was 0.88%., Conclusion: The incidence of hospital-acquired VTE was lower than that described in the literature. Although it cannot be certain that it is directly related to the instituted protocol, the data can show that the management of prevention of VTE is being optimally performed at the hospital. Long-term studies are needed to evaluate the incidence after discharge, as well as to agree on a specific protocol in the COVID-19 population for the prevention of these events during hospitalisation and post-discharge., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© European Association of Hospital Pharmacists 2023. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

BackgroundSurveillance of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and antimicrobial use (AMU) in Europe is currently annual.AimTo study the feasibility and scalability of a quarterly AMR/AMU surveillance system in the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA).MethodsWe conducted a longitudinal study within the scope of the EU-JAMRAI project. Seventeen partners from 11 EU/EEA countries prospectively collected 41 AMU and AMR indicators quarterly from September 2017 to May 2020 for the hospital sector (HS) and primary care (PC). Descriptive statistics and coefficients of variation (CV) analysis were performed.ResultsData from 8 million hospital stays and 45 million inhabitants per quarter were collected at national (n = 4), regional (n = 6) and local (n = 7) levels. Of all partners, five were able to provide data within 3 months after each preceding quarter, and eight within 3-6 months. A high variability in AMU was found between partners. Colistin was the antibiotic that showed the highest CV in HS (1.40; p < 0.0001). Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli presented the highest incidence in HS (0.568 ± 0.045 cases/1,000 bed-days per quarter), whereas ciprofloxacin-resistant E. coli showed the highest incidence in PC (0.448 ± 0.027 cases/1,000 inhabitants per quarter). Barriers and needs for implementation were identified.ConclusionThis pilot study could be a first step towards the development of a quarterly surveillance system for AMU and AMR in both HS and PC in the EU/EEA. However, committed institutional support, dedicated human resources, coordination of data sources, homogeneous indicators and modern integrated IT systems are needed first to implement a sustainable quarterly surveillance system.

The monitoring of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in bacterial pathogens of animals is not currently coordinated at European level. To fill this gap, experts of the European Union Joint Action on Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infections (EU-JAMRAI) recommended building the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance network in Veterinary medicine (EARS-Vet). In this study, we (i) identified national monitoring systems for AMR in bacterial pathogens of animals (both companion and food-producing) among 27 countries affiliated to EU-JAMRAI, (ii) described their structures and operations, and (iii) analyzed their respective strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT). Twelve countries reported having at least one national monitoring system in place, representing an opportunity to launch EARS-Vet, but highlighting important gaps in AMR data generation in Europe. In total, 15 national monitoring systems from 11 countries were described and analyzed. They displayed diverse structures and operations, but most of them shared common weaknesses (e.g., data management and representativeness) and common threats (e.g., economic vulnerability and data access), which could be addressed collectively under EARS-Vet. This work generated useful information to countries planning to build or improve their system, by learning from others' experience. It also enabled to advance on a pragmatic harmonization strategy: EARS-Vet shall follow the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) standards, collect quantitative data and interpret AMR data using epidemiological cut-off values., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Mader, Muñoz Madero, Aasmäe, Bourély, Broens, Busani, Callens, Collineau, Crespo-Robledo, Damborg, Filippitzi, Fitzgerald, Heuvelink, van Hout, Kaspar, Norström, Pedersen, Pohjanvirta, Pokludova, Dal Pozzo, Slowey, Teixeira Justo, Urdahl, Vatopoulos, Zafeiridis, Madec and Amat.)

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) should be tackled through a One Health approach, as stated in the World Health Organization Global Action Plan on AMR. We describe the landscape of AMR surveillance in the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) and underline a gap regarding veterinary medicine. Current AMR surveillance efforts are of limited help to veterinary practitioners and policymakers seeking to improve antimicrobial stewardship in animal health. We propose to establish the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance network in Veterinary medicine (EARS-Vet) to report on the AMR situation, follow AMR trends and detect emerging AMR in selected bacterial pathogens of animals. This information could be useful to advise policymakers, explore efficacy of interventions, support antimicrobial stewardship initiatives, (re-)evaluate marketing authorisations of antimicrobials, generate epidemiological cut-off values, assess risk of zoonotic AMR transmission and evaluate the burden of AMR in animal health. EARS-Vet could be integrated with other AMR monitoring systems in the animal and medical sectors to ensure a One Health approach. Herein, we present a strategy to establish EARS-Vet as a network of national surveillance systems and highlight challenges of data harmonisation and bias. Strong political commitment at national and EU/EEA levels is required for the success of EARS-Vet.