Appropriate antimicrobial prescribing for bacteriuria before urological procedures: A room for improvement

In the presence of a positive preoperative urine culture, the prescription of a preoperative antibiotic therapy is recommended. The choice of antibiotic therapy and prescription are usually made by the urologist or the general practitioner (GP). The objective of the treatment is urinary sterilization rather than parenchymal treatment, and the treatment choice is key to reduce selective pressure and antimicrobial resistance. The objective of this study was to evaluate prescription patterns made by urologists and GPs, then to compare the antibiotics chosen by urologists or GPs to the "ideal" treatment defined by infectious diseases specialists. We retrospectively reviewed all positive preoperative urine cultures obtained between November 2022 and July 2023. Data pertaining to antibiotic prescriptions, including the duration of treatment, antibiotic class, and prescriber were collected. An infectious disease specialist conducted a blind review of each urine culture, providing recommendations for the most appropriate antibiotic based on their assessment. In cases of disagreement, a second infectious disease specialist conducted a similar evaluation. Out of 196 preoperative antibiotic prescriptions, 40 (20%) differed from the recommendations provided by the infectious disease specialist, with 39 involving the use of overly broad-spectrum antibiotics. Both infectious disease specialists yielded congruent recommendations in all cases. Notably, in 50% of these instances, the preoperative antibiotic treatment duration unduly exceeded 48hours. A statistically significant increase (4.84days vs. 2.99days) in preoperative treatment duration was observed when a GP was the prescriber (P<0.001). There is room for improvement of urologists' antibiotic prescription practices to reduce the ecological impact on the patient's microbiota and on a global scale. The delegation to GPs resulted in unjustified longer treatment durations and should be avoided without dedicated training. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 4.