Improving prophylactic perioperative antibiotic utilization in a hospital system

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Quality Improvement
• Infectious Disease Prevention
• Surgical Site Infection (SSI) Reduction

Background:

• The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) initiated the Surgical Infection Prevention Project in 2002.
• Performance measures for perioperative antibiotic use were developed to prevent surgical site infections and subsequently adopted by other organizations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the feasibility and impact of implementing a comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach to achieve 100% adherence to perioperative antibiotic utilization guidelines.
• To demonstrate process improvements in consistent perioperative antibiotic use within a large health system.

Main Methods:

• An interdisciplinary quality improvement team was formed at Spectrum Health, a health system in western Michigan.
• The team focused on achieving 100% adherence to perioperative antibiotic use measures at two acute care hospitals.
• Process changes were implemented and monitored over an 18-month period.

Main Results:

• Consistent perioperative antibiotic utilization was achieved across the targeted hospitals.
• The interdisciplinary approach facilitated significant process shifts towards optimal antibiotic stewardship.
• The study demonstrated successful implementation of performance measures in a real-world healthcare setting.

Conclusions:

• A comprehensive, interdisciplinary strategy is effective in achieving and sustaining consistent perioperative antibiotic utilization.
• Quality improvement initiatives focused on performance measures can lead to significant advancements in preventing surgical site infections.
• The findings support the broader adoption of standardized protocols for antibiotic use in surgical settings.