A goal of prophylaxis with antibiotics is to establish bactericidal tissue and serum levels at the time of skin incision. Studies performed in the 1960’s and 1970’s demonstrated that a common reason for failure of prophylaxis was delay of antibiotic administration until after the operation. In a study of 2,847 surgery patients at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, it was found that the lowest incidence of post-operative infection was associated with antibiotic administration during the one hour prior to surgery. The risk of infection increased progressively with greater time intervals between administration and skin incision. This relationship was observed whether antibiotics preceded or followed skin incision (Classen 1993).

Opportunities to improve care have been demonstrated and timely administration has been recommended. For example, at LDS Hospital, administration of the first antibiotic dose “on call” to the operating room was frequently associated with timing errors. Altering the system there resulted in an increase in appropriate timing from 40% of cases in 1985 to 99% of cases in 1998.

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)

• Bratzler DW, Houck PM, for the Surgical Infection Prevention Guidelines Writers Group. Antimicrobial prophylaxis for surgery: An advisory statement from the National Surgical Infection Prevention Project. CID. 2004:38(15 July):1706-1715.
• Mangram AJ, Horan TC, Pearson ML, et al. Guidelines for prevention of surgical site infection, 1999. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 1999;20:247-280.
• Silver A, Eichorn A, Kral J, et al. Timeliness and use of antibiotic prophylaxis in selected inpatient surgical procedures. Am J Surg. 1996;171:548-552.
• Larsen RA, Evans RS, Burke JP, et al. Improved perioperative antibiotic use and reduced surgical wound infections through use of computer decision analysis. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 1989;10:316-320.
• Finkelstein R, Reinhertz G, Embom A. Surveillance of the use of antibiotic prophylaxis in surgery. Isr J Med Sci. 1996;32:1093-1097.
• Matuschka PR, Cheadle WG, Burke JD, et al. A new standard of care: administration of preoperative antibiotics in the operating room. Am Surg. 1997;63:500-503.
• Gorecki P, Schein M, Rucinski JC, et al. Antibiotic administration in patients undergoing common surgical procedures in a community teaching hospital: the chaos continues. World J Surg. 1999;23:429-432.
• Bernard HR, Cole WR. The prophylaxis of surgical infections: the effect of prophylactic antimicrobial drugs on the incidence of infection following potentially contaminated operations. Surgery. 1964;56:151-157.
• Polk HC, Lopez-Mayor JF. Postoperative wound infection: a prospective study of determinant factors and prevention. Surgery. 1969;66:97-103.
• Stone HH, Hooper CA, Kolb LD, et al. Antibiotic prophylaxis in gastric, biliary, and colonic surgery. Ann Surg. 1976;184:443-452.

Edit