Methods
Settings and sub-studies
This cross-sectional study was conducted in the state of
Madhya Pradesh in India. Specifically, the setting was the
500-bed teaching hospital attached to the R.D. Gardi
Medical College, situated in a rural area near Ujjain city.
Three sub-studies were conducted (i) quantification of
antibiotics prescribed in the inpatient wards of the hospital
(ii) estimation of antibiotic residues in hospital-associated
waters and (iii) determination of susceptibility
patterns in E.coli isolates obtained from the same waters.
Further, the inter-relationship, if any, between the results
obtained from these sub-studies was assessed.