Tehran University of Medical Sciences Journal of Pharmaceutical Care 2322-4630 12 2 2024 06 29 73 77 Maryam Shahrokhi Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran. Houman Hashemian Pediatric Diseases Research Centre, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran. Mehrdad Dadras Faculty of Pharmacy, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran. Saba Bouzar Faculty of Pharmacy, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran. Negar Shafaei-Bajestani Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Gonabad University of Medical Sciences, Gonabad, Iran. 2023 12 27 2024 02 14 Background: The development of a system for rational use of antimicrobials seems mandatory. Furthermore, since hospitals do not share the same bacterial flora and have different patterns of antibiotic therapy the purpose of the present study is to perform a Drug Utilization Evaluation (DUE) on the pattern of antibiotic administration in patients hospitalized in 17 Shahrivar Pediatric Hospital, RASHT, Iran. Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study that was conducted in a one-year period (2021-2022), 560 patients were randomly selected and their medication data were collected based on the gender and age as well as the type, dose, duration of antibiotic therapy and the results of bacterial cultures and also susceptibility of the infectious microorganisms. Results: The average age of patients was 53.56 months with 46.9% of them being less than 24 months old. The highest rate of antibiotics administration belonged to the infectious diseases ward (30%) and 33% of antibiotics were prescribed by pediatric infectious diseases specialists. The result of most of the cultures was reported as negative (98.38%), the most prevalent microorganism was Escherichia Coli from urine cultures (2.38%) and Staphylococcus Aureus from sputum cultures (14.28%). The highest prescribed antibiotics were ceftriaxone (51.2%) and vancomycin (45.6%). It was determined the antibiotic stipend was 15.6% of the whole budget for purchasing medicine. Conclusions: It is necessary to develop a guideline regarding the prescription of antibiotics in children's departments, which reduces empiric treatment and the requirement to adjust the drug after a negative culture. https://jpc.tums.ac.ir/index.php/jpc/article/view/630