The effects of monitoring the use of gentamicin in a community hospital.

This report describes the effect of a combined education and monitoring program on the use of gentamicin in a community hospital. The use of gentamicin was evaluated in 82 patients prior to an education program and in 80 patients after the education program. The results indicate that the attention focused on gentamicin by the study significantly improved the valid indications for treatment from 75% to 87% (p less than .05), increased the pretreatment use of bacteriologic cultures from 85% to 97% (p less than .05), increased the use of alternative less toxic antibiotics from 36% to 75% (p less than .05), and increased the frequency with which serum gentamicin concentrations were requested during therapy from 28% to 56% (p less than .001). Thus, the data support the tenet that the ways antibiotics are employed in community hospitals can be altered.