Adequate Administration of Perioperative Antibiotics in Orthopedic Patients: Quality Assessment Study

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that nearly 500,000 surgical site infections (SSIs) occur annually.[3] SSIs remain a substantial cause of morbidity and mortality among hospitalized patients. For this reason, we developed a quality assessment study with a perioperative antibiotic protocol that included antibiotic type, weight dependent dose, and intraoperative re-dosing regime for the proper administration of prophylaxis antibiotics prior to orthopedic surgery. We restricted our study to knee replacement and hip replacement surgeries. All records from September 2014 to June 2015 were taken into consideration (78 cases). Before February 2015 (protocol implementation date), only 33% or 13 of 39 cases were correctly dosed. After protocol establishment: 44 % or 17 of 39 cases were correctly dosed. Although our p-value suggests no statistical significance, there was an increasing trend of adequate antibiotic administration. In conclusion, we need to educate more our nursing staff and implement monthly audits of our cases to improve our mistakes and ensure that this aspect of practice will remain in the forefront of perioperative orthopedic surgery care.