When performed according to best-practice principles, therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) can optimise anti-infective treatment and directly benefit clinical outcomes. We evaluated TDM performance and clinical decision-making for established anti-infective agents amongst Australian hospitals. A nationwide cross-sectional survey was conducted between August and September 2019. The survey consisted of multiple-choice questions regarding TDM of anti-infective agents in general as well as clinical vignettes specific to vancomycin, gentamicin and voriconazole. We sought to survey all Australian hospitals operating both in the public and private health sectors. Responses were captured from 85 unique institutions, from all Australian states and territories. Regarding guidelines, 26% of hospitals did not have endorsed guidelines to advise on the ordering, sampling and interpretation of TDM for any anti-infective agent. Admitting teams were predominantly responsible for ordering TDM (85%) and interpreting results (76%). Only 51% of hospitals had access to dose prediction software, with access generally better amongst principal referral (69%) (P = 0.01) and children's hospitals (100%) (P = 0.04). Whenever a laboratory-derived minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was not available to guide dosing decisions, a surrogate target MIC was assumed in 77% of hospitals. This was based on a 'worst-case' scenario infection in 11% of hospitals. The rates of clinical practice consistent with current guideline recommendations across all aspects of TDM were demonstrated to be 0% for vancomycin, 4% for gentamicin and 35% for voriconazole. At present, there is significant institutional variability in the clinical practice of TDM for anti-infective agents in Australia for established TDM drugs.
Keywords: Clinical practice; Gentamicin; Questionnaire; Therapeutic drug monitoring; Vancomycin; Voriconazole.
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