A nationwide survey on involvement of clinical microbiologists in antibiotic stewardship programmes in large French hospitals

Antibiotic stewardship programmes (ASP) are essential to tackle antibiotic resistance. Clinical microbiologists (CMs) play a key role in these programmes; however, few studies describe their actual involvement. Our objective was to explore CMs’ involvement in French hospital ASP. In 2018, we conducted a survey among CMs working in large public French hospitals (600 acute care beds or more). The questionnaire focused on the following topics: microbiology department’s characteristics, hospital ASP, and CMs’ involvement in this programme, including their use of rapid diagnostic tests (RDT). Fifty/74 CMs answered (response rate 68%), with 68% working in a teaching hospital. CMs were leading the ASP in 6% of cases, and 57% of hospitals had a multidisciplinary antibiotic stewardship team. Most microbiology departments (92%) were using specific PCR, processed 24/7 in 74% of hospitals. More than half (58%) were using syndromic panel-based testing, 94% mass spectrometry, and 96% immunochromatographic/colorimetric RDT. Blood cultures were processed 24/7 in 44% of hospitals. CMs were involved in this. Finally, 42% of CMs wished to be more involved in their hospital’s ASP, the most frequently reported barrier being lack of time (36%). CMs should be more involved in ASP. RDT are widely used, but not implemented in an optimal way.