Researchers studied the medical, surgical and pediatric wards at an academic medical center over a five-year period. They used ordinary least squares regression to identify hospital units showing statistically significant trends in restricted antibiotics prescription.
The study shows that there were significant decreases in restricted drug use in two of the seven medical units and in one of the four pediatric units subject to formulary restriction and the preauthorization program.
However, researchers also found a significant increase in restricted antibiotic use in one of the four surgical units that implemented the program.
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