Sustaining improvement in surgical infection prevention measures for hysterectomy

Studies have shown that administering prophylactic antibiotics within 60 minutes of a surgical incision decreases the chance of postoperative infection. A large women's hospital that performs 8,000 surgical procedures per year committed to preventing infection by participating in a study. The study participants were patients who had undergone an abdominal hysterectomy. For testing and implementing improvements, the Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle performance improvement method was used. In order to benchmark and to share best practices, the hospital joined the Surgical Infection Prevention Collaborative. The result of the study was antibiotic prophylactic delivery 60 minutes prior to incision in the abdominal hysterectomy population from a baseline of 10% to greater than 90% from 2003 to 2005. This result could not have been accomplished without the dedication and teamwork the hospital staff demonstrated. Quality improvement strategies, staff education, and communication of data have resulted in this sustained improvement.