The study was designed to evaluate rational antibiotic use in relation to diagnosis and bacteriological findings. All hospitalized patients who received antibiotics were evaluated by a cross-sectional study. Of the 713 patients hospitalized, 281 (39.4%) patients received 377 antibiotics. Among 30 different antibiotics the most frequently requested were first generation cephalosporins (19.9%), ampicillin-sulbactam (19.1%) and aminoglycosides (11.7%). Antibiotic use was appropriate in 64.2% of antibiotic requests. In analysis of appropriate use, a request after an infectious diseases consultation was a frequent reason (OR=14, P<0.001, CI=0.02-0.24). Antibiotics requested in conjunction with susceptibility results were found to be more appropriate than those ordered empirically (OR=4.5, P=0.017, CI=0.06-0.76). Inappropriate antibiotic use was significantly higher among unrestricted antibiotics than restricted ones (P<0.001). Irrational antibiotic use was high for unrestricted antibiotics. Additional interventions such as postgraduate training programmes and elaboration of local guidelines could be beneficial.