PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Vu Thi Lan Huong
AU  - Ta Thi Dieu Ngan
AU  - Huynh Phuong Thao
AU  - Le Minh Quang
AU  - Tran Thi Thu Hanh
AU  - Nguyen Thi Hien
AU  - Tran Duc
AU  - Vu Hai Vinh
AU  - Chau Minh Duc
AU  - Vo Thi Hoang Dung Em
AU  - Phan Van Be Bay
AU  - Nguyen Thi Thuy Oanh
AU  - Pham Thi Thuy Hang
AU  - Nguyen Thi Cam Tu
AU  - Truong Anh Quan
AU  - Thomas Kesteman
AU  - Elizabeth Dodds Ashley
AU  - Deverick Anderson
AU  - H Rogier van Doorn
TI  - Assessing feasibility of establishing antimicrobial stewardship programmes in two provincial-level hospitals in Vietnam: an implementation research study
AID  - 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-053343
DP  - 2021 Oct 01
TA  - BMJ Open
PG  - e053343
VI  - 11
IP  - 10
4099  - http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/11/10/e053343.short
4100  - http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/11/10/e053343.full
SO  - BMJ Open2021 Oct 01; 11
AB  - Objectives To investigate the feasibility of establishing hospital-based antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) programmes comprising action-planning, educational interventions and data feedback in two provincial-level hospitals in Viet Nam.Design and setting This was an implementation research using participatory action process and existing resources from the Duke Antimicrobial Stewardship Outreach Network with local adjustments. A national stakeholder meeting and Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) analysis were conducted to identify gaps and potential interventions.Participants Hospital AMS staff implemented activities throughout the study phases. Routinely collected patient data were analysed to support planning, implementation and evaluation.Interventions Hospitals were considered as a complex adaptive system and leveraged their unique characteristics and interconnections to develop 1-year plans containing core interventions (data use, educational training, prospective audit with feedback (PAF) and evaluations).Outcome measures We assessed feasibility using outputs from stakeholder meeting, SWOT analysis, baseline data, planning process and implementation.Results The stakeholder meeting identified three gaps for AMS at national level: supportive policies, AMS training and core competencies and collaboration. At the hospitals, AMS programmes took 1 year for planning due to lack of hospital-specific procedures and relevant staff competencies. Baseline data (January–December 2019) showed variations in antibiotic consumption: 951 days of therapy (DOT) per 1000 days present in the control and 496 in the intervention wards in hospital 1, and 737 and 714 in hospital 2, respectively. During 1-year implementation, clinical pharmacists audited 1890 antibiotic prescriptions in hospital 1 (June 2020–May 2021) and 1628 in hospital 2 (July 2020–July 2021), and will continue PAF in their daily work.Conclusion Our data confirmed the need to contextualise AMS programmes in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) and demonstrated the usefulness of implementation research design in assessing programme feasibility. Developing staff competencies, using local data to stimulate actions and integrating programme activities in routine hospital work are key to success in LMICs.All data relevant to the study are included in the article or uploaded as supplementary information. Summary data from this study could be made available upon reasonable request.