Background Antibiotic consumption and the emergence of resistant organisms represent two major priorities of the medical and administrative staff of any hospital. Monitoring of antibiotic (ATB) consumption is one of the key missions of the hospital pharmacists and allows them to sensitise physicians of the perpetual changes in the bacterial environment.

Purpose Our goal was to conduct a study as part of the rationalisation of the use of ATB, which aims to quantify, describe and follow-up consumption of ATB in different medical services of the paediatric hospital from 2009 to 2014.

Material and methods This was a retrospective study from 2009 to 2014. All classes of ATB consumed in the paediatric hospital services were classified according to the WHO ATC classification and included in the study. The methodology and tools used are those recommended in this area using the DDD (defined daily dose) per 1000 patient days.

Results From 2009 to 2014, consumption of ATB changed by 30.5%. The change was marked in the quinolone class (538%), with ciprofloxacin as a leader although it is an ATB contraindicated in children <15 years of age, followed by glycopeptides (172%) and beta lactams (25%), with a very important development for imipenem (500%) because of the emergence of resistant bacteria, penicillin A and penicillin A protected (more than 100%) and a decrease in penicillin G and penicillin M (−25%). Consumption of amphenicols and colimycin declined (by −91% and −100%, respectively). ATB consumption differed from one service to another and was significant (p<0.001).

Conclusion The increase in consumption of some classes of ATB, such as glycopeptides and carbapenems, could be explained by several factors: the budget increase in ATB following a growing need and better accessibility given the introduction of generics, an increase in the incidence of resistance and dissemination of multi-resistant bacteria.¹ The decline in consumption of other classes of antibiotics such as penicillins and amphenicols is mainly due to the emergence of resistance strains and adverse effects.

References and/or acknowledgements 1. Rachid Razine, et al. Prevalence of hospital-acquired infections in the university medical centre of Rabat, Morocco. Int Arch Med2012;5:26.

No conflict of interest