Table 1. Comparison of old and new methodologies for national surveillance of antimicrobial consumption in hospitals, Belgium.
| Component | Old methodology (NSIHweb) [13] | New methodology (BeH-SAC) [11] |
|---|---|---|
| Data source | Self-reported sales data (numerator and denominator) by hospitals, mandatory surveillance Participation rate: ca 88% in 2012 [13] |
Reimbursement data, which covers ca 98.6% of the Belgian population with health insurance in 2016 [10] |
| Indicators | DDDs/1,000 patient days, DDDs/1,000 admissions | DDDs/1,000 patient days, DDDs/1,000 admissions |
| Period | 2007–14 (mandatory until 2013) Per year and per trimester (voluntary) |
DDDs/1,000 patient days: 2003–most recent year DDDs/1,000 admissions: 2008–most recent year Per year and per trimester |
| Drugs (ATC codes)a | A07A, D01BA, J01, J02, P01AB, J04A | A07A, D01BA, J01, J02, P01AB, J04A, J05 |
| Hospitalsa | Acute care hospitals and chronic care hospitals (≥ 150 beds) Per mergerb and per site (voluntary) |
Acute care, chronic care and psychiatric hospitals Per mergerb |
| Hospital units | Total hospital use: psychiatric beds only included in the numerator (excluded in the denominator) and one day hospitalisations excluded. Specific results for non-paediatric wards, paediatric wards, ICU (voluntary) and hematology-oncology (voluntary). |
Total hospital use: data on psychiatry and surgical one day hospitalisations available, but excluded in the current study to ensure comparability with the old methodologyc. Specific results for surgery, internal medicine, geriatrics, paediatrics, intensive and non-intensive neonatology, maternity, infectious disease, burn unit, ICU, specialised care, psychiatry and surgical one day hospitalisations. |
| Feedback reporting | Interactive feedback reports per hospital with benchmarking Platform: NSIHweb |
Interactive feedback reports per hospital with benchmarking Platform: Healthstat |
ATC: anatomical therapeutic chemical classification; BeH-SAC: Belgian Hospitals – Surveillance of Antimicrobial Consumption; DDD: defined daily dose; ICU: intensive care unit.
a In the current study, only antibiotic consumption (ATC code J01) and acute care hospitals were included.
b Hospital sites that are grouped together.
c Full results (including on psychiatry wards and surgical one-day hospitalisation) are available in the interactive reports on www.healthstat.be.