To assess the effect of new legislation on the dispensing of antimicrobials without prescription from pharmacies in Greece.

In-person survey.

The study included 110 pharmacies in the greater Athens Metropolitan area.

Volunteer collaborators visited 110 pharmacies in the greater Athens Metropolitan area in December 2021 and January 2022. They asked for either ciprofloxacin or amoxicillin-clavulanate acid (6:5 ratio) without providing a prescription, without simulating symptoms, and without offering justification or insisting. Fluoroquinolones have additional dispensing restrictions in Greece. Results were compared to a 2008 study. In 2020, legislation allowed the dispensing of antibiotics from pharmacies only with an electronic prescription, overriding the 1973 forbidding the dispensing of all medications without prescriptions.

All pharmacists refused to dispense ciprofloxacin without a prescription. Only 1 pharmacy dispensed amoxicillin-clavulanate without a prescription. Compared to the 2008 study, dispensing of amoxicillin-clavulanate without a prescription dropped from 100% in 2008 to 1% in 2021 and dispensing ciprofloxacin without a prescription dropped from 53% in 2008 to 0% in 2021.

A new and enforced law that requires electronic prescribing led to a dramatic reduction of antibiotic dispensing without prescription compared to 12 years ago. Similar initiatives could help solve the problem of antibiotic consumption and resistance in Greece and elsewhere.

We surveyed antimicrobials used in Greek pediatric hematology–oncology (PHO) and bone marrow transplant (BMT) units before and after an intervention involving education regarding the 2017 clinical practice guidelines (CPG) for the management of febrile neutropenia in children with cancer and hematopoietic stem-cell transplant recipients.

Antibiotic prescribing practices were prospectively recorded between June 2016 and November 2017.

In December 2017, baseline data feedback was provided, and CPG education was provided. Prescribing practices were followed for one more year. For antibiotic stewardship, days of therapy, and length of therapy were calculated.

Five of the 6 PHO units in Greece and the single pediatric BMT unit participated.

Admitted children in each unit who received the first 15 new antibiotic courses each month.

Administration of ≥4 antibiotics simultaneously and administration of antibiotics with overlapping activity for ≥2 days were significantly more common in PHO units in general hospitals compared to children’s hospitals. Use of at least 1 antifungal was recorded in ∼47% of the patients before and after the intervention. De-escalation and/or discontinuation of antibiotics on day 6 of initial treatment increased significantly from 43% to 53.5% (P = .032). Although the number of patients requiring intensive care support for sepsis did not change, a significant drop was noted in all-cause mortality (P = .008).

We recorded the antibiotic prescribing practices in Greek PHO and BMT units, we achieved improved prescribing with a simple intervention, and we identified areas in need of improvement.

To audit clinical practice and implement an intervention to promote appropriate use of perioperative antimicrobial prophylaxis (PAP).

Prospective multicenter before-and-after study.

This study was conducted in 7 surgical departments of 3 major Greek hospitals.

Active PAP surveillance in adults undergoing elective surgical procedures was performed before and after implementation of a multimodal intervention. The surveillance monitored use of appropriate antimicrobial agent according to international and local guidelines, appropriate timing and duration of PAP, overall compliance with all 3 parameters and the occurrence of surgical site infections (SSIs). The intervention included education, audit, and feedback.

Overall, 1,447 patients were included: 768 before and 679 after intervention. Overall compliance increased from 28.2% to 43.9% (P = .001). Use of antimicrobial agents compliant to international guidelines increased from 89.6% to 96.3% (P = .001). In 4 of 7 departments, compliance with appropriate timing was already >90%; an increase from 44.3% to 73% (P = .001) and from 20.4% to 60% (P = .001), respectively, was achieved in 2 other departments, whereas a decrease from 64.1% to 10.9% (P = .001) was observed in 1 department. All but one department achieved a shorter PAP duration, and most achieved duration of ~2 days. SSIs significantly decreased from 6.9% to 4% (P = .026). After the intervention, it was 2.3 times more likely for appropriate antimicrobial use, 14.7 times more likely to administer an antimicrobial for the appropriate duration and 5.3 times more likely to administer an overall appropriate PAP.

An intervention based on education, audit, and feedback can significantly contribute to improvement of appropriate PAP administration; further improvement in duration is needed.

Active daily surveillance of central-line days (CLDs) in the assessment of rates of central-line–associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) is time-consuming and burdensome for healthcare workers. Sampling of denominator data is a method that could reduce the time necessary to conduct active surveillance.

To evaluate the accuracy of various sampling strategies in the estimation of CLABSI rates in adult and pediatric units in Greece.

Daily denominator data were collected across Greece for 6 consecutive months in 33 units: 11 adult units, 4 pediatric intensive care units (PICUs), 12 neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), and 6 pediatric oncology units. Overall, 32 samples were evaluated using the following strategies: (1) 1 fixed day per week, (2) 2 fixed days per week, and (3) 1 fixed week per month. The CLDs for each month were estimated as follows: (number of sample CLDs/number of sampled days) × 30. The estimated CLDs were used to calculate CLABSI rates. The accuracy of the estimated CLABSI rates was assessed by calculating the percentage error (PE): [(observed CLABSI rates − estimated CLABSI rates)/observed CLABSI rates].

Compared to other strategies, sampling over 2 fixed days per week provided the most accurate estimates of CLABSI rates for all types of units. Percentage of estimated CLABSI rates with PE ≤±5% using the strategy of 2 fixed days per week ranged between 74.6% and 88.7% in NICUs. This range was 79.4%–94.1% in pediatric onology units, 62.5%–91.7% in PICUs, and 80.3%–92.4% in adult units. Further evaluation with intraclass correlation coefficients and Bland-Altman plots indicated that the estimated CLABSI rates were reliable.

Sampling over 2 fixed days per week provides a valid alternative to daily collection of CLABSI denominator data. Adoption of such a monitoring method could be an important step toward better and less burdensome infection control and prevention.