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NAUSP contributors information, data principles and definitions
NAUSP uses dispensing and occupancy data supplied by contributing hospitals to analyse trends in usage over time. NAUSP collects information for a wide range of antimicrobial agents (PDF 405KB or .xlsx 33KB).
Monthly antimicrobial usage data (derived from pharmacy dispensing records) and patient admission data (overnight occupied bed days) are converted to the internationally recognised drug usage rate of defined daily dose (DDD) per 1000 occupied bed days.
The standardisation of data enables comparison of usage rates between agents and between hospitals and can be used to generate a national average usage rate for each agent. However, this method is not currently validated for populations where doses vary, such as in paediatric and neonatal settings. Consequently, all paediatric and neonatal data are currently excluded from NAUSP.
For further details relating to NAUSP methodology, see the NAUSP Data Principles and Definitions (PDF 409KB) and other resources below.
NAUSP will soon be accepting antimicrobial usage data extracted from electronic Medication Administration Record (eMAR) systems.
More information coming soon.