An Audit of Perioperative Antimicrobial Prophylaxis: Compliance with the International Guidelines

Antimicrobial prophylaxis has been demonstrated to lower the incidence of postoperative infection in nearly all types of surgery. The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) guideline summarizes current data on the appropriate use of antibiotic for surgical prophylaxis. The objective of this study was to assess and audit the use of antibiotics in a tertiary care center according to the recommendation of ASHP guideline.

This cross-sectional study was performed using prospective data gathered from April to September 2015 in the surgical wards of Al Zahra Hospital, Isfahan, Iran. Antibiotic indication and choice, dose, dosing interval, route of administration, and timing of first administration and duration of prophylaxis were compared with the ASHP guideline recommendations.

A total of 100 patients with the mean age of 49.8 ± 18.2 years were recruited for this study. About 22% of procedures had full compliance with all guideline recommendations. The most frequently encounter noncompliance type were the duration of prophylaxis (14%) and appropriate agent choice (35%). Timing of the initial dose was appropriate in most of the procedures (42%).

This study revealed that most of the prescribed antibiotics for surgical prophylaxis are not in accordance with standard treatment guideline. The density of antimicrobial use for preoperative antimicrobial prophylaxis is very high. Furthermore, the hospital should develop a formal strategy, including a local guideline for antimicrobial prophylaxis in surgical procedures.