Antibiotic prescribing practice in the Intensive Care Unit of a Nigerian teaching hospital

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dc.contributor.authorIge, Olufemi Adebayo
dc.contributor.authorOjo, Olawale
dc.contributor.authorAdewumi Oluwaseyi
dc.contributor.authorAgah Overcomer
dc.date.accessioned2026-03-27T14:45:22Z
dc.date.available2026-03-27T14:45:22Z
dc.date.issued2026
dc.description.abstractBackground: Antibiotics are vital in the prevention and treatment of bacterial in- fections. However, prescribing practices often deviate from established guidelines with prolonged durations of surgical prophylaxis, redundant antibiotic combina- tions, and a significant reliance on broad-spectrum agents. This study aims to de- termine antibiotic prescribing practices at our teaching hospital. Methods: This was a prospective, descriptive, cross-sectional study of adult pa- tients admitted to the ICU at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, Kwa- ra State, Nigeria. The study participants were critically ill patients between the ag- es of 6 months and 65 years who were admitted to the ICU. Using a questionnaire, information such as age, sex, diagnosis, antibiotic prescription, regularity of admin- istration, use of microbiological investigations, and outcome of ICU care was ex- tracted from the patients’ hospital files and recorded. Data from this study were summarized and reported as means ± standard deviation, frequencies, or propor- tions of the total. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically signifi- cant. Results: A total of 128 ICU patients were enrolled in the study. One hundred and twenty-four (96.88%) patients were prescribed antibiotics. Antibiotic prescriptions were for prophylactic reasons in 56 (45.16%) patients and for therapeutic reasons in 68 (54.84%) patients. All antibiotic prescriptions were empirical. The most fre- quently prescribed antibiotic was ceftriaxone. The most frequently prescribed anti- biotic combination was Ceftriaxone/Metronidazole. There was no statistically sig- nificant difference in gender (0.7651) and age (p = 0.0775) between those who sur- vived to ICU discharge and those who died. Prophylactic antibiotic prescription was associated with survival to ICU discharge compared to therapeutic prescription (p = 0.0018). Conclusion: Ceftriaxone was the primary empirical ICU antibiotic therapy, while metronidazole was used strategically for anaerobic coverage. In this study, critical care physicians favored empirical therapy over targeted therapy.
dc.identifier.citationIge O.A., Ojo O., Adewumi O., Agah O. (2026). Antibiotic prescribing practice in the Intensive Care Unit of a Nigerian Teaching Hospital. Pan African Journal of Emergency and Critical Care. 4(1):1-10.
dc.identifier.urihttps://journal.esep.org.et/index.php/esep/issue/view/14.
dc.identifier.urihttps://uilspace.unilorin.edu.ng/handle/123456789/17117
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherEthiopian Society of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine.
dc.relation.ispartofseries4; (1)
dc.titleAntibiotic prescribing practice in the Intensive Care Unit of a Nigerian teaching hospital
dc.title.alternativeAntibiotic prescribing practice
dc.typeArticle

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