Ø 2B RESOURCE: A Comparison of Antibiotic Data Sources

Purpose: A tool to review sources of antibiotic data.

Source: Developed by B. Ostrowsky and P. Chung, Montefiore Medical Center, for ERASE C. difficile Project toolkit.

Instructions: Use this chart when considering sources of antibiotic data, including strengths and weaknesses.

Source	Advantages	Disadvantages
Purchasing	Easiest data to obtain for baseline (most pharmacies track, even if not full computerized physician order entry [CPOE]). Can be converted into defined daily doses to get estimates of use. Comparison possible before and after interventions. Simple to convey results to stakeholder.	Likely aggregated facility-level data only (not patient level). May be influenced by contract pricing. Can vary at different times of year (since ordering can be sporadic and availability of generic and other drugs can vary over time).
Orders	Can be aggregated by patient.	Represents only prescriber intent (orders change) and not necessarily what patients receive. Unless done by chart review, requires some pharmacy electronic tracking system.
Medication dispensed	Can be aggregated by patient.	Represents what pharmacy dispenses and not necessarily what patients actually receive (medication may be wasted). Unless done by chart review, requires some pharmacy electronic tracking system.
Medications received	Best data; represents actual medication receipt. Can be aggregated by patient.	Unless done by chart review, requires CPOE or other advanced pharmacy electronic tracking system. Needs information technology to help obtain, organize, and aggregate data in meaningful way. Labor intensive to clean and aggregate (often large files).

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