IMPROVEMENT CYCLE TO ADAPT THE USE OF ANTIMICROBIALS IN A REGIONAL HOSPITAL
Antimicrobial stewardship; Quality Improvement; Quality of Health Care.
The development of an Antimicrobial Stewardship Program (ASP) is a fundamental tool for preventing the spread of bacterial resistance, a global public health issue. Despite Brazil having updated guidelines on ASP implementation, few experiences have been described regarding its implementation using Quality Improvement Cycles. This study is an intervention with a quasi-experimental design, including before-and-after and time series analyses, conducted in a regional public hospital from January 2023 to June 2024. The improvement intervention was participatory, multifaceted, and based on data from a preliminary assessment with five quality criteria and context analysis using MUSIQ. Absolute and relative improvements in the criteria are estimated from reassessments and time series. The MUSIQ score of 106.42 indicated that the intervention could be successful but would face contextual barriers. Four out of five evaluated quality criteria showed significant improvement, positively impacting despite the challenging context. Implementing an antimicrobial stewardship program is a complex process involving multiple interventions and interfaces, for which the Quality Improvement Cycles method is appropriate.