A method of determining patterns of use of antibacterial drugs.

A hospital chart review system using standard IBM punch cards was designed to review patterns of use of antibacterial drugs in a large Canadian general hospital. Review of the charts of 4894 patients during an eight-month period showed that this method provided an inexpensive and accurate summary of many of the details of use of antibacterial drugs, including indications accepted for drug use, specific drugs selected, the manner in which the drugs were used and the precautions taken to avoid adverse reactions. This method of review should be valuable in delineating drug misuse and overuse, and hence in the continuing education of the physician.