The authors investigated the administration of monitored antibiotics, i.e. gentamicin, cephalosporins and cotrimoxazol, as well as of other so-called not monitored antibiotics. The investigation was made in the same 10 hospitals in the Slovak Republic three times in the course of 15 years, i.e. in 1978, 1983 and for the last time in 1988. It was revealed that the number of therapeutic administrations of the monitored antibacterial substances in increasing. The excessive gentamicin administration persists in particular on neonatal, premature-infant and surgical departments. The authors evaluate as a positive feature that the structure of administered antibiotics changes, i.e. the amount of gentamicin administration is declining and the cephalosporin administration has a rising trend. The investigated antibiotics were administered for an average period of 10.6 days which is too long, in particular in gentamicin where the period was as long as 9.2 days. The investigated antibiotics were administered most frequently in diseases of the airways and in diseases of the urinary and genital system.

Keywords: Cephalosporins /therapeutic use/; Czechoslovakia; Drug Utilization; Gentamicins /therapeutic use/; Hospitals; Humans; Trimethoprim, Sulfamethoxazole Drug Combination /therapeutic use/