A Multidisciplinary Approach to Improvements in Perioperative Antibiotic Prophylaxis at a Military Treatment Facility

Introduction Surgical site infections complicate 2%-5% of surgeries. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, half of all surgical site infections are preventable. Adherence to published recommendations regarding perioperative antibiotic administration decreases the incidence of surgical site infections. Members of the Department of Anesthesia noticed casual observations of inaccurate prescribing of antibiotics at our institution, Brooke Army Medical Center, and approached the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program to collaborate on this issue. Materials and Methods A team of anesthesiologists, clinical pharmacists, and infectious disease specialists collaborated with the Department of Surgery to improve this effort as part of a multiyear project from 2018 to 2021. We first assessed adherence to recommended perioperative antibiotic use to establish a baseline and next, noticing gaps, created a project with the goal to improve compliance to >90% across surveyed measures. Our key interventions included educational initiatives, creation of facility-specific guidelines, peer benchmarking, updating order sets, interdisciplinary collaboration, creation of intraoperative reminders and visual aids, and tailored presentations to selected services. Results Of 292 charts (2.3% of cases from January to October 2018) reviewed pre-intervention, compliance rates were 84% for antibiotic choice, 92% for dose, 65% for redosing, and 71% for postoperative administration. Of doses, 100% were timed correctly, and thus, this variable was not targeted. Post-intervention, our review of 387 charts (10% of cases from May to November 2020) showed no change in correct antibiotic choice (84%) and statistical improvement to 96% for correct dose, 95% for correct redosing, and 85% for correct postoperative administration (P < .05 for all). Conclusions Our multidisciplinary approach of collaboration with multiple departments, creating guidelines and providing feedback, improved compliance with perioperative antibiotic administration recommendations.