Timing Antibiotics Right Could Prevent Many Surgical Infections
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Contributed by William Angelos| 23 February, 2005 02:22 GMT
Studies have shown that compared to similar risk patients undergoing the same surgery, a patient who gets a surgical site infection is twice as likely to die, 5-6 times more likely to require re-admission, and likely to stay in the hospital twice as long.
To prevent surgical infections, antibiotics must be administered at the appropriate time, a requirement that is critical, but often ignored, according to a study released Tuesday in the Archives of Surgery. Researchers found that only a little more than half of Medicare beneficiaries undergoing major surgery received antibiotics in the hour before incision.
Over the past two years, local Medicare Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) have been working closely with many hospitals to redesign procedures and protocols, so that surgical patients are given antibiotics within sixty minutes before incision.
Several hundred U.S. hospitals report successfully implementing clinical processes that effectively prevent surgical site infections, one of the leading causes of hospital-associated infections. Still, many others lag.
Use of Antibiotics 'Suboptimal'
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