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Objectives To investigate the feasibility of retrospective prescription-based review and to describe the antibiotic prescribing patterns to provide information for an antimicrobial stewardship programme in Viet Nam Methods This study was conducted in two provincial-level hospitals between February and April 2020. Reviews were done by a clinical team consisting of leaders/senior doctors of each ward to assess the optimal level (optimal/adequate/suboptimal/inadequate/not assessable) of antibiotic prescriptions. Mixed-effect logistic regression at prescription level was used to explore factors associated with optimal antibiotic use. Results The retrospective prescription-based review was accepted by study clinical wards with varied levels of participants. One hundred and eighty-three patients (326 prescriptions) in Hospital 1 and 200 patients (344 prescriptions) in Hospital 2 were included. One hundred and nineteen of the 326 (36.5%) antibiotic prescriptions in Hospital 1 and 51/344 (14.8%) antibiotic prescriptions in Hospital 2 were determined to be optimal by the review teams. The number of adequate antibiotic prescriptions were 179/326 (54.9%) and 178 (51.7%) in Hospital 1 and Hospital 2, respectively. The optimal level was lower for surgical prophylaxis antibiotics than for empirical therapy (OR = 0.06; 95% CI 0.01–0.45), higher in prescriptions in the ICU (OR = 12.00; 95% CI 3.52–40.92), higher in definitive antibiotic therapy (OR = 48.12; 95% CI 7.17–322.57) and higher in those with an indication recorded in medical records (OR = 3.46; 95% CI 1.13–10.62). Conclusions This study provides evidence on the feasibility of retrospective prescription-based review, with adaption to the local situation. High and varying levels of optimal antibiotic prescriptions in clinical wards in hospitals were observed in Viet Nam.

Highlights • Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) in low- and middle-income settings has multiple players. • Leadership commitment greatly influences AMS implementation in hospitals. • Staff showed good perception of AMS but misperceptions on local resistance levels. • Guidelines on staffing and training standards are needed to support implementation. • More support is needed to promote active roles of pharmacists and microbiologists., Objectives This study aimed to analyse the current state of antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) in hospitals in Viet Nam, a lower-middle income country (LMIC), to identify factors determining success in AMS implementation and associated challenges to inform planning and design of future programmes. Methods We conducted a mixed-methods study in seven acute-care hospitals in the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance network in Viet Nam. Data collection included 7 focus group discussions, 40 in-depth interviews and a self-administered quantitative survey of staff on AMR and AMS programmes. We summarised qualitative data by reporting the most common themes according to the core AMS elements, and analysed quantitative data using proportions and a linear mixed-effects model. Results The findings reveal a complex picture of factors and actors involved in AMS implementation from the national level to the departmental and individual level within each hospital. The level of implementation varied, starting from the formation of an AMS committee, with or without active delivery of specific interventions. Development of treatment guidelines, pre-authorisation of antimicrobial drug classes, and post-prescription audit and feedback to doctors in selected clinical departments were the main interventions reported. A higher level of leadership support and commitment to AMS led to a higher level of engagement with AMS activities from the AMS team and effective collaboration between departments involved. Conclusion Establishing country-specific guidelines on AMS staffing and adapting standards for AMS education and training from international resources are needed to support capacity building to implement AMS programmes effectively in LMICs such as Viet Nam.

ObjectivesTo investigate the feasibility of establishing hospital-based antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) programmes comprising action-planning, educational interventions and data feedback in two provincial-level hospitals in Viet Nam.Design and settingThis was an implementation research using participatory action process and existing resources from the Duke Antimicrobial Stewardship Outreach Network with local adjustments. A national stakeholder meeting and Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) analysis were conducted to identify gaps and potential interventions.ParticipantsHospital AMS staff implemented activities throughout the study phases. Routinely collected patient data were analysed to support planning, implementation and evaluation.InterventionsHospitals were considered as a complex adaptive system and leveraged their unique characteristics and interconnections to develop 1-year plans containing core interventions (data use, educational training, prospective audit with feedback (PAF) and evaluations).Outcome measuresWe assessed feasibility using outputs from stakeholder meeting, SWOT analysis, baseline data, planning process and implementation.ResultsThe stakeholder meeting identified three gaps for AMS at national level: supportive policies, AMS training and core competencies and collaboration. At the hospitals, AMS programmes took 1 year for planning due to lack of hospital-specific procedures and relevant staff competencies. Baseline data (January–December 2019) showed variations in antibiotic consumption: 951 days of therapy (DOT) per 1000 days present in the control and 496 in the intervention wards in hospital 1, and 737 and 714 in hospital 2, respectively. During 1-year implementation, clinical pharmacists audited 1890 antibiotic prescriptions in hospital 1 (June 2020–May 2021) and 1628 in hospital 2 (July 2020–July 2021), and will continue PAF in their daily work.ConclusionOur data confirmed the need to contextualise AMS programmes in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) and demonstrated the usefulness of implementation research design in assessing programme feasibility. Developing staff competencies, using local data to stimulate actions and integrating programme activities in routine hospital work are key to success in LMICs.