Evaluation of the Bacterial Infections and Antibiotic Prescribing Practices in the Intensive Care Unit of a Clinical Hospital in Romania

<b>Introduction:</b> Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are associated with increased mortality, antimicrobial resistance, and high antibiotic use. <b>Methods</b>: The characteristics of bacterial resistance and antibiotic consumption in the intensive care unit (ICU) of a clinical hospital in Romania were evaluated. Demographic data of patients, identified bacteria, antibiotics administered, and their sensitivity profiles were collected and analyzed. <b>Results</b>: One hundred and twenty-five patients, with a median age of 68 years, mostly male (60%), were included in the study. More than one-third of the patients died. The deceased patients were older (median age of 74 years), had longer hospitalization (median of 9 days) and bacteria detected (55.3%), and had higher antibiotic consumption than the discharged patients. The most frequent bacteria identified in our cohort were <i>Acinetobacter baumannii</i>, <i>Klebsiella pneumoniae</i>, and <i>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</i> in deceased patients and <i>Klebsiella pneumoniae</i>, <i>Escherichia coli</i>, <i>Staphylococcus hemolyticus</i>, and <i>Enterococcus faecalis</i> in the survived group. The top three antibiotics used were ceftriaxone, metronidazole, and meropenem. Resistance to antibiotics was observed in 44.3% of the deceased group and 37.5% of patients who were discharged (χ² = 5.5, <i>p</i> = 0.0628). <b>Discussion</b>: A positive monotonic association was observed between the number of hospitalization days and the number of antibiotic doses, with a higher correlation coefficient for deceased patients (0.6327, <i>p</i> < 0.0001) than in survived group (0.4749, <i>p</i> < 0.0001). <b>Conclusions and Future Trends</b>: This study provides a real picture of HAIs, the characteristics of bacteria, and the consumption of antibiotics in an ICU of a clinical hospital in Romania. The data obtained are similar to those from other international studies, but further studies are needed to reflect the real situation in Romania.