Improving compliance with prophylactic antibiotic administration guidelines

To reduce the incidence of surgical site infections, preoperative prophylactic antibiotics should be administered within 60 minutes before the initial incision is made. A recent study and anecdotal observations, however, indicate that rates for compliance with these guidelines are low. A quality improvement project was undertaken at a Florida health care facility to determine if implementing changes in preoperative processes would increase compliance with prophylactic antibiotic administration guidelines. After the strategies were implemented, compliance rates with the national guidelines for administration of antibiotics within 60 minutes of surgical incision increased from 75% at baseline to 95% postimplementation.