As countries worldwide are faced with an unprecedented pandemic, there is a profound concern that widespread antibiotic use in COVID-19 patients could increase the selective pressure for antibiotic resistance. For this reason, we have slightly adapted the Global-PPS protocol to allow surveillance of COVID-19 patients. Hospitals are once more able to participate in up to 3 data collection periods in 2020.

In the face of the continuing surge of coronavirus infections, antibiotic stewardship should guide us as much as possible to avoid the continued widespread antibiotic use. The Global-PPS has a role to play as it allows hospitals to collect data on antimicrobial use and resistance. These data provide knowledge, enable informed medical decisions and support policy-making processes. Read more.

From 2020 onwards, only the Global-PPS protocol with the optional HAI module is available. Beside the light version of the protocol, hospitals can choose to conduct the full version whereby for each patient receiving an antimicrobial on the day of the PPS, a supplementary HAI form needs to be completed. The protocol has also been adapted to allow detailed analyses on COVID-19 patients. For that reason, the HAI form, the diagnostic list and the antimicrobial list have been adapted (see here). Importantly, hospitals can also choose to survey only a set of wards within the hospital (e.g. only ICU’s, only medical wards, etc.).

Consult the protocol, including the optional HAI module, and data collection forms on the Global-PPS website here. These documents are available in English, as well as several other languages.

Read more on how to get started here.