Infections of various types can occur after surgery. The most common are wound infections and pneumonia. These infections are a major cause of postoperative death and complications, and increased health care cost. The appropriate selection and timing of preventive antibiotic administration before and after surgery, can help decrease these infections.
Surgical Infection Prevention -- The Three Quality and Patient Safety Measures
1. Antibiotic 1 hour prior
Receiving an antibiotic immediately before surgery (within one hour prior to surgery) reduces the risk of wound infections. The following graph exhibits our performance in giving the antibiotic within one hour prior to surgery, and the national rates reported by The Joint Commission.
2. Antibiotic discontinued within 24 hours
Unless there is an ongoing infection, it is important to stop giving antibiotics within 24 hours after surgery. Prolonged and unnecessary antibiotic administration causes bacterial resistance to the antibiotic. The following graph exhibits our performance in discontinuing the antibiotic within 24 hours after surgery, and the national rates reported by The Joint Commission.
3. Appropriate antibiotic selection
The antibiotic selected should be one that is safe for that patient, and is the mostly likely to prevent infections for that particular type of surgery. There are national established guidelines indicating which antibiotic is the most appropriate for different types of surgical procedures. The following graph exhibits our performance in selecting the appropriate antibiotic, and the national rates reported by The Joint Commission.
Some of the information is taken from Specifications Manual for National Hospital Quality Measures, the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association and the Clinical Infectious Diseases Journal.
