Objectives This study aims to assess the impact of clinical pharmacist-led antimicrobial stewardship on antibiotic use and postoperative pulmonary infection in a surgical department. Design Retrospective and cross-sectional.
Setting A tertiary hospital in Wuhan, China. Participants A total of 9157 patients who underwent video-assisted thoracoscopic lung surgery (VATLS) were included (4949 and 4208 pre-implementation and post-implementation).
Methods An interrupted time-series design with segmented regression analysis was employed to evaluate changes in antibiotic use intensity (defined daily dose/100 bed-days), antibiotic spectrum coverage (scores/100 bed-days) and postoperative pulmonary infection rate before and after implementation of the stewardship programme. Between-group comparisons of antibiotic use rates and treatment duration were performed using 2 test, Fisher's exact test, t-test or Mann-Whitney U test, as appropriate.
Outcome measures Antibiotic use intensity (defined daily dose/100 bed-days), antibiotic spectrum coverage (scores/100 bed-days), postoperative pulmonary infection rates, the proportion and the duration of antibiotic use.
BMJ Open published a clinical update in Research Highlights on 07 Apr 2026.
The item focuses on Impact of a clinical pharmacist-led stewardship programme on antibiotic utilisation and clinical outcomes in thoracic surgery: a retrospective interrupted time-series study at a tertiary hospital in China.
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