The Canadian Nosocomial Infection Surveillance Program (CNISP):
- Last updated: 2024-01-04
Antimicrobial Use (AMU) Surveillance amongst Adult and Pediatric Inpatients at CNISP Hospital Sites across Canada
The Canadian Nosocomial Infection Surveillance Program (CNISP) monitors antimicrobial use (AMU) among adult and pediatric inpatients from participating CNISP acute-care hospitals across Canada.
Data are analyzed using defined daily doses (DDDs) for adult inpatients or days-of-therapy (DOTs) for pediatric inpatients as per World Health Organization guidelines, allowing for Canadian and international comparisons. CNISP uses these data to monitor trends and provide information to health care providers and policy makers to aid in the control of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and the promotion of appropriate AMU.
For more information on CNISP programs or how to participate, please contact: cnisp-pcsin@phac-aspc.gc.ca.
For information on the consumption of antimicrobials in the community, please visit the Canadian Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System AMU page.
AMU Surveillance
Overall AMU
AMU by Class
Hover over a line in the graph to highlight the antimicrobial class in the legend. Move your cursor along the line to a point directly above a year on the x axis to display the AMU rate for that year. In the interactive legend, click/unclick the antimicrobial class name to add/remove its corresponding line from the graph.
*Other classes include: Amphenicols, Other beta-lactams, Cephalosporins (2nd, 4th and 5th gen.), Oxazolidinones, Polymyxins, Tetracyclines, and Other antibacterials
*Other classes include: Amphenicols, Other beta-lactams, Cephalosporins (2nd, 4th and 5th gen.), Oxazolidinones, Polymyxins, Tetracyclines, and Other antibacterials
AMU by AWaRe Category
To support monitoring of antibiotic consumption and stewardship programs, the World Health Organization (WHO) developed the AWaRe classification, which categorizes antibiotics into three groups based on their resistance potential:
- Access: First or second choice antibiotics, effective against a wide range of common pathogens with lower resistance potential than Watch and Reserve antibiotics.
- Watch: First or second choice antibiotics for specific bacterial infections. They should be monitored and used cautiously due to their higher resistance potential.
- Reserve: Last resort antibiotics for multi-drug-resistant infections, requiring close monitoring.
For a complete list of antibiotics in each AWaRe category, please visit: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/2021-aware-classification
AMU by Ward Type
IV = Intravenous solution. Please note that at some hospitals vancomycin IV solution may be administered orally and this use cannot be distinguished from IV use.
†Please note that in certain years, there could be more than 10 antimicrobials listed due to some having the same rate.