Citations

Abstract Objectives Healthcare institutions implement antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) programmes to optimize the use of antibiotics. The focus is often on inpatient rather than outpatient settings. We aimed to explore perceptions of AMS stakeholders on effective interventions for appropriate antibiotic use in outpatient settings, and the role of clinical pharmacists in the AMS multidisciplinary team. Methods A qualitative semi-structured interview study using thematic analysis by two researchers independently. Participants that practice AMS programmes were recruited from healthcare facilities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Interviews were conducted face to face or online and transcribed verbatim. Results Four themes emerged: (i) Perceived factors leading to unnecessary or inappropriate antibiotic prescribing and their impact on patients and the community; (ii) current outpatient AMS activities and perceived barriers and facilitators for their sustainability; (iii) suggested outpatient AMS strategies to be implemented in outpatient settings; and (iv) perceived future AMS implementation barriers and suggested mitigation strategies. Conclusions Several AMS interventions, together with the presence of a clinical pharmacist, may be effective in improving antibiotic use in UAE outpatient settings. Future research should investigate the most appropriate AMS strategy considering barriers and possible mitigation strategies to ensure sustainability.

Background: Identification of people with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) who are at risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD) and require a prophylactic implantable cardioverter defibrillator is challenging. In 2014, the European Society of Cardiology proposed a new risk stratification method based on a risk prediction model (HCM Risk-SCD) that estimates the 5-year risk of SCD. The aim was to externally validate the 2014 European Society of Cardiology recommendations in a geographically diverse cohort of patients recruited from the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Methods: This was an observational, retrospective, longitudinal cohort study. Results: The cohort consisted of 3703 patients. Seventy three (2%) patients reached the SCD end point within 5 years of follow-up (5-year incidence, 2.4% [95% confidence interval {CI}, 1.9–3.0]). The validation study revealed a calibration slope of 1.02 (95% CI, 0.93–1.12), C-index of 0.70 (95% CI, 0.68–0.72), and D-statistic of 1.17 (95% CI, 1.05–1.29). In a complete case analysis (n= 2147; 44 SCD end points at 5 years), patients with a predicted 5-year risk of <4% (n=1524; 71%) had an observed 5-year SCD incidence of 1.4% (95% CI, 0.8–2.2); patients with a predicted risk of ≥6% (n=297; 14%) had an observed SCD incidence of 8.9% (95% CI, 5.96–13.1) at 5 years. For every 13 (297/23) implantable cardioverter defibrillator implantations in patients with an estimated 5-year SCD risk ≥6%, 1 patient can potentially be saved from SCD. Conclusions: This study confirms that the HCM Risk-SCD model provides accurate prognostic information that can be used to target implantable cardioverter defibrillator therapy in patients at the highest risk of SCD.