Background: Although small- and medium-sized hospitals comprise most healthcare providers in South Korea, data on antibiotic usage is limited in these facilities. We evaluated the pattern of antibiotic usage and its appropriateness in hospitals with <400 beds in South Korea. Methods: A multicenter retrospective study was conducted in 10 hospitals (6 long-term care hospitals, 3 acute-care hospitals, and 1 orthopedic hospital), with <400 beds in South Korea. We analyzed patterns of antibiotic prescription and their appropriateness in the participating hospitals. Data on the monthly antibiotic prescriptions and patient days for hospitalized patients were collected using electronic databases from each hospital. To avoid the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, data were collected from January to December 2019. For the evaluation of the appropriateness of the prescription, 25 patients under antibiotic therapy were randomly selected at each hospital over 2 separate periods. Due to the heterogeneity of their characteristics, the orthopedics hospital was excluded from the analysis. The collected data were reviewed, and the appropriateness of antibiotic prescriptions was evaluated by 5 specialists in infectious diseases (adult and pediatric). Data from 2 hospitals were assigned to each specialist. The appropriateness of antibiotic prescriptions was evaluated from 3 aspects: route of administration, dose, and class. If the 3 aspects were ‘optimal,’ the prescription was considered ‘optimal.’ If only the route was ‘optimal,’ and the dose and/or class was ‘suboptimal,’ but not ‘inappropriate,’ it was considered ‘suboptimal.’ If even 1 aspect was ‘inappropriate,’ it was classified as ‘inappropriate.’ Results: The most commonly prescribed antibiotics in long-term care hospitals was fluoroquinolone, followed by β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitor (antipseudomonal). In acute-care hospitals, these were third-generation cephalosporin, followed by first-generation cephalosporin and second-generation cephalosporin. The major antibiotics that were prescribed in the orthopedics hospital was first-generation cephalosporin. Only 2.3% of the antibiotics were administered inappropriately. In comparison, 15.3% of patients were prescribed an inappropriate dose. The proportion of inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions was 30.6% of the total antibiotic prescriptions. Conclusions: The antibiotic usage patterns vary between small- and medium-sized hospitals in South Korea. The proportion of inappropriate prescriptions exceeded 30% of the total antibiotic prescriptions.

Funding: None

Disclosures: None

Growth behavior and microstructure of oxide scale formed on MoSi2 coating by cyclic oxidation testing in air at 500 °C were investigated using field emission scanning electron microscopy, cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy, glancing angle x-ray diffraction, and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. MoSi2 coating was prepared by chemical vapor deposition of Si on a Mo substrate at 1100 °C for 5 h using SiCl4–H2 precursor gas mixtures. After the incubation period of about 454 cycles, accelerated oxidation behavior was observed in MoSi2 coating and the weight gain increased linearly with increasing oxidation cycles. Microstructural analyses revealed that pest oxide scale was formed in three sequential processes. Initially, nanometer-sized crystalline Mo4O11 particles were formed with an amorphous SiO2 matrix at MoSi2 interface region. Inward diffusing oxygen reacted with Mo4O11 to form Mo9O26 nano-sized particles. At final stage of oxidation, MoO3 was formed from Mo9O26 with oxygen and growth of MoO3 took place forming massive precipitates with irregular and wavy shapes. The internal stress caused by the growth of massive MoO3 precipitates and the volatilization of MoO3 was attributed to the formation of many lateral cracks into the matrix leading to pest oxidation of MoSi2 coating.

(Bi3xZn2−3x)(ZnxNb2−x)O7 thin films (x=1/2 and 2/3) have potential great for tunable RF and microwave devices due to medium dielectric constant and low dielectric loss. The tunable dielectric properties of Bi-rich, (Bi1.5 Zn0.5)(Zn0.5 Nb1.5)O7 thin films were investigated. To make Bi-rich cubic pyrochlore thin films, Bi2O3–ZnO–Nb2O5 monoclinic pyrochlore ceramic targets were used in reactive RF magnetron sputtering process. Substrate heating was employed to improve surface morphology and tunability. As-deposited films were crystallized or amorphous state depending on substrate temperature. All films were annealed at 600°C ∼ 800°C for 3 hours in the air. There were no zinc niobate secondary phases in the films before and after post-annealing, while quite significant amount BZN thin films were found in sputtered using cubic pyrochlore ceramic targets, especially after post-annealing. It was found that Bi-rich BZN films have much larger tunability when as-deposited phase are amorphous. The maximum tunability 38% was obtained when substrate is heated to 350°C and composition of films is close to exact stoichiometric cubic BZN.

Microwave dielectric properties of the solid solution between Ba(Ni1/3Nb2/3)O3 and Ba(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3 were investigated. Samples were prepared by the conventional mixed oxide method as well as the Pechini method. Sintered samples were analyzed using x-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy, and their microwave dielectric properties were measured by the post resonator method. The sample prepared by the Pechini method revealed excellent dielectric properties, i.e., permittivity of 35.6, quality factor of 5700 at 10 GHz, and very small temperature coefficient of resonant frequency. Order-disorder behavior of this solid solution system was found to depend on processing parameters. Variation in microwave dielectric properties was discussed in terms of the order-disorder behavior, chemical composition, mixture rule, etc.

An optimized process of Pb(Zr,Ti)O3(PZT) ferroelectric capacitor has been investigated in order to develop a highly scaleable 1T/1C ferroelectric random access memory. The PZT ferroelectric capacitor, Pt/PZT/Pt stack, was formed on the TiO2/SiO2/Si substrate. The PZT thin films were prepared by conventional sol-gel multi-coating method. Physical and electrical properties of the PZT ferroelectric capacitors were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM and RT6000S, respectively.

It was revealed that the microstructure of PZT thin film is strongly influenced by sol-gel coating process, especially depending on coating methods of the first PZT layer. The second phase was observed in the PZT thin films, which is found to be pyrochlore phase. The size and density of pyrochlore phase were significantly reduced by modifying the coating methods of first PZT layer. Microstructure of PZT thin film capacitors was evaluated in detail along with electrical properties such as remnant polarization, coercive electric field, and dielectric leakage. The sensing Pr window was also introduced for proper sensing margin in IT/1C ferroelectric random access memory. This concept is well verified by 64Kb 1T/1C ferroelectric random access memory.